Teenage Rhapsody
by LiveLoveLaugh
Summary: AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn’t have a dark secret. She wasn’t social. She wasn’t very attractive. She wasn’t very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.
1. Twist and Shout

**Disclaimer:** Baby, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** I know I should be either updating my stories _Magical Chakra_ or _Such Sweet Sorrow_, but I suppose I read many good high school fanfiction stories that I wanted to write one of my own. I can't say that I can make my main character (Haruno Sakura) into one hot chickadee whose life is surrounded by fan boys and girls dropping dead begging to be in her shoes. Well maybe…but that's not the point!

But even so, if you're not looking for this type of story, then please click the Back button and you won't ever have to lay your eyes on this window ever again. Hell, you can flame me if you want.

But I _am_ going to ignore that kind of review. I have no time for ridicules.

Though, give it a try. Have a good read. Besides it's my first time writing a high school fic.

Chapter One

**Twist and Shout**

"Ah…Sakura-san, I wish you take off that ridiculous hat, you have such nice hair! You shouldn't be hiding it!" Tsunade whispered, frowning, pulling the car to the curb. Her first caretaker was always like this, so the girl sitting next to her didn't mind. Sakura fingered her ski cap lightly around the rim, feeling the gray cotton, and smiled nervously.

A small sad look crossed her face, but she hid it away with a bright smile, "Maybe, but you know how I am with my hair."

"Bah! Even your mother didn't have such nice hair like yours!" Tsunade scoffed, braking and pulling out the car key.

The third woman, who sat in the backseats, combed her short raven hair with her slender fingers, "Tsunade is right, Sakura-san, you're a senior now, and this is a new school. I'm sure you can make it through the last half of the year." A pet pig adorned with a purple pearl necklace poked her snout out from Shizume's giant beige bag, yawning and looking up at the eighteen year old woman with loving cute black eyes.

Sakura shook her head hastily, banishing any bad thoughts, "This is what other girls tease me about…my hair, it's _weird_ and _bizarre_, and my forehead is too _ugly_…I don't want it to happen again. Not until I graduate."

"Then you'll take it off?"

"Yeah, I guess," she nodded to the blonde.

Tsunade grinned at that, "Then I'll wait for that day."

* * *

When they opened the car doors, everyone in the school parking lot looked up and stopped their conversations with their friends about how much fun they had in their spring breaks, just to stare at the beauty they were radiating off. Jocks in leather jackets dropped their basketballs and footballs, cheerleaders gossiped enviously about the blonde's huge bust size and amazing figure, and the rest in the lot talked together about the strange girl with a hat on. The three women emerged into the giant campus, walking across the dew green grass. Tsunade walked with her head held high and her hazel eyes were glowing with boldness, her blond hair was tied into a messy bun with bangs that framed her lovely face. Shizume smiled, and walked side by side with her younger friend Sakura who held onto her school books and the bag which held the squeaking pig Tonton.

The raven-haired woman noticed the nervous bounce in her walk as she strides to avoid anyone's eyes, hugging her books closer to her chest. Tsunade pulled the sides of her beige overcoat that hung around her shoulders, pushing up the apex of her black shades and an indifferent look on her beautiful face.

"Who are they?" a group of girls asked, one blond girl with a long high ponytail looked curiously at Sakura.

They walked into the building, Tsunade walked through the doors and somehow the wooden double doors opened magically for her. An invisible fan blew and rightly adjusted lights shined on her face and hair like for a famous celebrity walking down on a red carpet. Tsunade rolled her eyes, and strolled towards the main office. Sakura grinned slightly. She knew her caretaker would never like to be reminded she used to be a movie actress, and a great at that.

They entered into an office, the swinging door opened and closed so fast, Sakura didn't even have the chance to read the white bold letters on the transparent glass on the door. The room was quite cool, with all four windows opened for the nice spring breezes to come in. The walls were painted in bland colors of beige and pale blue, the furniture were made of fine chestnut. Paperwork were neatly stacked and organized, but what was out of the ordinary was that they were multiple posters and candid shots taped around the office. All were pictures of attractive nearly nude women in different poses and either bathing in the steamy spas, dressed in bikinis and thongs, or have exotic facial expressions.

Stacks of porno magazines filled the cabinets, strewed empty instant ramen bowls and takeout containers filled the garbage can, files of naked women in alphabetical order was in every drawer, aquariums of amphibians were pushed against the blue beige walls, nearly using every plug to create moist and dry habitats in their incubators, and an entire pile of the well-known _Icha Icha Paradise_ collection was set out, a book was already laid out on the desktop with a erotic drawing of two lovers on one page.

Sakura gawked, her emerald eyes wide and her cheeks were hot. W-What w-was this?

"Yo! Jiraiya, you toad man! Wake up!" Tsunade slapped her firm hand on the chestnut desk with an obvious irritated look, woke up the leering old white-haired man in a clean red suit from his trance. He turned his chair and looked to see an old friend of his, grinning to see two such beautiful faces. He completely ignored Sakura and the pet pig.

"Ha, no time no see, Tsunade-chan!" He switched his attention to the young woman at her right, holding out a hand, "Well…hello, _pretty_ lady…" he cooed in a smooth voice. Shizume gulped, already hating him, and smiled nervously as she shook his hand.

"It's Shizume, I am one of the new temporary teachers for the next semester," she smiled politely, hiding half her body behind the stern Tsunade who was looking down on the man.

The Jiraiya man switched off the pornographic rental movie screening on a flat screen television with a remote, leaning on the squeaky leather chair with his two feet crossed on the tabletop. A shiver glide its way up her spine, sending escape messages in Sakura's head when his perverted eyes moved to her utterly shaking body, it was as if he could see through her school uniform and began undressing her with just his disturbing eyes.

Tonton oinked, poking her head out with a disapproving glare.

"So what's with that girl? She your daughter or something?" he asked curiously, taking out a pack of cards and set out to play Solitude.

"She's the new student here, Jiraiya," the blonde whispered, pulling off her shades with fierce tug, "Unfortunately, her parents could not attend to escort her to your office, they are currently on yet another business trip so I am her caretaker."

"Oh!" the white-haired man turned his eyes up at her, with a nasty grin, "So you're Haruno Sakura! Are you that hot babe Haruno Chiyo's daughter?" She felt his leering eyes all over her body, smacking his lips hungrily for something she really didn't want to know, "My, my! You sure have grown—but maybe in a few years, you'll develop some _very_ nice curves—"

"SHE'S SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD YOU DAMN PERVERT!" Tsunade barked, slamming a fist on top of his head.

And in a drastic crash his head collided nastily on the hard tabletop, that splinters and cracking of skull had brought Shizume to squeal and Sakura to slap her mouth with her free hand (she dropped Tinton's bag the moment she punched). Two large red horns were bored into her wheat blond hair, her skin was a dark crimson and her nostrils flared. In a grasp of her fist, Tsunade breathed volcanic fire.

When Jiraiya appeared to still be conscious (and alive) with a gigantic steaming anime bruise, his poor head literally smashed into the wood, Tsunade turned on her black stiletto heels and brought a sweet smile on her pretty face when she faced with the fidgeting wide-eyed younger women.

"Shizume, why don't you show Sakura around the school for a moment?" she smiled bigger, freaking them out, "I'll be out in a moment!"

* * *

"That man is the principal?" Sakura asked disbelievingly, "Has he ever been charged for sexual harassment from the females in the school before?" The two women conversed while walking down a semi-packed hallway, Tonton strutting shortly behind. Students, who passed by in the linoleum walkway, laughed and pointed at the impeccably clean pink pig with fondness.

Shizume shook her head, laughing, "I don't believe so! But, lucky for you, he's not interested in anyone in Konoha High. I've worked here a bunch of times, I did catch him walking into the girl's locker room several times before," she quickly added after, when she saw her friend's mortified look, "But, the girls usually beat his ass and call it a day. It's some kind of ritual I'm never used to."

"Hmm…" Sakura looked around thoughtfully, and glanced back nervously, "Since you've taught here before, are the students tolerable of new kids?" She tugged the side of her ski cap sadly. Shizume smiled sympathetically, patting the shoulder of a white school blouse.

"I know you've been through a lot with all your parents' huge promotions and moving to new schools," the raven-haired woman took her around the corner, "And it's hard making new friends and losing them suddenly. You never had a normal school life. But you'll like it here, I'll promise you that." Shizume grinned, "I promise you that Tsunade would kill Jiraiya if he ever laid his perverted eyes on you again. She's one of the students' deans!"

She smiled more, adding in a whisper, "And your mother's best friend…"

"Yeah," Sakura, softly closed her green eyes lightly.

She opened them up, when Shizume was stopped by another teacher. Sakura let them small talk, while she waited quietly and patiently for her. She took her time looking around, memorizing the beige lockers and soft green walls, the students who walked in and out of open classrooms in their school uniforms that consisted of white blouses, red ties, and short pleated maroon skirts for girls and navy blue jackets, red ties, white undershirts, and matching navy slacks for boys. She became quite envious when best friends gathered together, giggling and talking together about their spring vacations.

"No way! You actually did that! Ha!" one attractive girl with four golden ponytails laughed, leaning against a wall parallel to her.

"Yes! I'm guilty!" a platinum blond girl exaggerated with her hands raised in the air, her hair long and shiny, tied into a high ponytail.

Sakura looked away, extinguishing any feelings of jealousy and turned to Shizume who was still talking with another female teacher. She had not noticed that those same two girls who she staring at had caught her glance a second later when she turned away. They both had amused looks.

"Hey? Is that the new girl?" Temari asked, bending her head to the side with analytical cerulean eyes, "I heard some woman with a huge rack talking to Jiraiya-sama a few days ago about her."

"Maybe, I saw her outside a few moments ago," Ino whispered, slightly interested in the questionable girl.

"Why is that girl wearing that stupid ski cap?" the first woman laughed, "What is it? Still winter, or something? Geez, a total _fashion clash_, it makes her head a lot smaller than with the rest of her body." She snorted, elbowing her friend for some humors.

"Yeah," Ino wasn't really listening, when she then spotted someone walking down the same hallway. She smiled excitedly, and ran her hand wistfully through the side bang of her hair. Temari saw _him_, and rolled her eyes and bit her lip seductively.

"Oh, Sasuke-baby, never look so hot…" she grinned at Ino, who was literally shivering.

Ino cocked her head to Temari, with a predatory smile, "When you don't see Sasuke-kun in so long, you tend to want him _more_…"

And there girls began to squeal and blush fiercely when the man of the hour came around the corner, walking in his superior state and god-like effect that radiated around him like a vast golden halo and some clouds put to action. He strolled in all his mightiness, his black-blue hair that glimmered sexily in the school lights, the dark bangs that hung and framed over his fair pale skin and face. If anyone would have seen his face, they might have thought it was carved out by an angel. He was tall, dark, handsome, and all the girls groveled at his feet. Guys nodded and greeted him, some were totally jealous and ignored him completely. Girls cooed at him, but his beautiful onyx eyes looked forward, blocking out anyone in the hallway.

One glance of his would kill you and bring you to heaven.

His red tie had clung loosely around his white collar, his navy uniform ironed and fitted his strong lean figure. He wore a black backpack on one shoulder, and a book in his right hand. And like right out of a badly choreographed high school movie, the 'cool', the 'hot', and 'most popular in school' guy Uchiha Sasuke, a senior of eighteen years of age, walked past unworthy fainting and melting girls.

Only to himself, he thought he wasn't any different than anyone else around him so he blended himself into silence and walked on. He was used to all the annoying attention, and was impervious to Yamanaka Ino's flirty eyes and Sabaku Temari's catcalls. His spring break turned out to be a bummer when all he did was study and practice sports in his family's giant estate. He only came back to school, like the past three and a half years of his life, to continue on with his boring life.

But today was different, a new change in the air actually. When he walked past a girl whose back was to him, he turned his eyes at her ski cap and accidentally knocked into someone. He shoved his shoulder through someone else's, then walked past not actually giving a damn.

Then a tight grip had chained on his arm, stopping him immediately.

"You're supposed to say 'excuse me', Uchiha," someone growled tersely, clearly not in the mood for any of his bastard-like actions today. Sasuke grinned, knowing whose voice it belonged to.

"And good morning to you, Hyuuga," he smiled challengingly to another alike face.

The other young man glared. But it wasn't just 'another' face, it was just another popular guy with looks much to caliber with Uchiha Sasuke. His long coffee-brown hair was tied into a low ponytail, he was of same tall height and high intellect with Sasuke, fair-skinned, strong-jawed, straight-nosed, carved lips, smug-looking, and had a pair of blazing white eyes that glimmering like light itself in the sun. He was a very handsome man, and wore his navy uniform strictly to the book. His hand grasped on the Uchiha's arm quite roughly, he didn't like being ignored by some jerk. And it was now 'second in command hot guy' Hyuuga Neji who was boring checkerboard eyes with Uchiha Sasuke.

Behind his back, stood his two childhood best friends, Rock Lee and Mitarashi Tenten, who were grimacing at the intensity of the glaring rivalry. Tenten laughed nervously, tugging on Neji's sleeve, "Hey, come off it, guys."

"YES! Listen to Tenten-san! Your peace treaty cannot be signed without the end your foolish youthful rivalry my friends!" Lee cried, shooting up his arms in a gallant array of his Good Guy Pose. With a Cheshire cat smile of his, his blindingly white teeth sparkled into a disturbing 'ping!'

The two boys were rock solid, Neji let go of his arm but still retain an unmoving glaring contest with Sasuke, who was smirking.

"Oh no, here they go again!" Temari shook her head, and walked to the side of Tenten, with a worried Ino.

"Gah! They're always like that!" Tenten slapped her hand over her forehead.

"I'm getting really tired of those two…" Shikamaru groaned, complaining to his chubby best friend Chouji.

"Oh God! Hyuuga! Uchiha!" Kurenai snapped her red polished fingers at the two, knowing this was a daily ritual and she was getting irritated that she couldn't at least small talk with another teacher without them starting things up again. Shizume turned around, bumping shoulders with Sakura.

Sakura heard someone yell 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' in the background, she snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head hastily around. People began to notice her emerald eyes turned to the two rock statues, and began whispering.

"Hey, have you ever seen her around?"

"Is she new here?"

"Why is she wearing that hat for?"

Ino, Tenten, and Temari had taken notice of the way her green eyes were looking, and groaned again.

"We lost another one," Temari chuckled, placing a hand on her hip.

"Who do you think she might like? Sasuke or Neji?" Tenten laughed, elbowing Ino.

"I don't care, as long it isn't my handsome Sasuke-kun," Ino giggled, folding her arms in amusement.

"_Yours?_ What are you? A lioness?" the older blonde snorted.

Her eyes were unblinking as they lay on someone's form, she was gaping and inched her way through slowly. Shizume blinked confusingly at her, and began to open her mouth to ask her. But Sakura moved, shifting her feet. A few people in the hallway were looking at her while others were rooting on for a fight between the two hot guys. They all contemplated for her to jump on either the Hyuuga or Uchiha, which they thought wasn't very surprising since new girls would immediately become either their stalkers or screaming fan girls (though, what's the difference?).

Sakura's eyes were bulging, and her breathing became raspy. Her hands were twitching that her school books slipped out and fell on the linoleum floor, people noted this was usually many of the 'Cupid-Got-Cha'–ictus symptoms. Very infectious. Highly incurable. Gets your blood pumping faster than usual, you begin the process of melting in your feet, your face is red with perspiration and your eyes become wide and sparkly. Soon your voice becomes shrilly and you both start screaming, "Neji-KUN!" or "Sasuke-KUN", and add a 'must-said' sentence of, "I LOVE YOU!"

But Sakura didn't do the last part. Nor did her eyes lay on either of Neji or Sasuke. Hell, she was looking far past them, _so_ far she didn't even know they existed.

Ino popped up a slender brow, she was the first one to notice this. Then Shizume, Shikamaru, Chouji, Temari, Tenten, then even Lee, Kurenai, the piggy Tonton, and everyone else in the hallways excluding Neji and Sasuke (they were busy looking at each other).

The new girl made a stunning performance by sprinting when Shizume tried calling her back, literally pushing her way through and breaking the glaring contest between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, catching their attentions. She pushed them rudely with her hands out stretched, and paced to her heart's content. Though people moved out of her way, not to get hurt or anything, but they still wanted to be alive to see her actions.

And with two of her arms, she wrapped them around someone's middle like a death clutch and began smiling very, very big.

"NARUTO!" she yelled excitedly, surprising someone with spiky sunshine blond hair and electric blue eyes.

Let's say, everyone is very, very surprised.

**To Be Continued**

(_Shrugs_) _Wait until next chapter, I guess._ _But even so, what do you guys think?_


	2. Good Morning Radio Station 1 2

**Disclaimer:** Baby, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** Okay, another update. Unlike my many other stories, I hope this one would continue for more than just two chapters.

Chapter Two

**Good Morning Radio Station 1.2**

"Did she just do what I think she just did…?" Temari gaped, running a shaking hand through her parted golden bangs.

"If she did, then she was the first," Ino whispered, disbelievingly.

"What the heck did her old school do? Hug losers? Knock down popular guys?" Tenten asked, almost fainting but luckily Lee caught her from behind.

"Oh come on, girls, snap out of it…" Rock Lee chuckled, bringing the brunette to her feet, "I think she's pretty cool."

"_Pshh!_" Temari scoffed, stabbing a manicured finger on his chest, "It's only because you're a dork!"

Lee sighed, looking uncomfortably at her, "Sabaku-kun, I really feel like I lost all hope in the human race."

"Good," the older blonde rolled her cerulean eyes, looking at the new girl, "Because I'm officially speechless."

* * *

"_Testing…testing…Is this piece of metal crap working?"_

"_Yes, Kin, but I think the whole school heard you swear…"_

"_Shut up Dosu…ANYWAY! It's the Konohagakure High School Radio Station one 'point' two, Good morning everyone! And welcome back from spring break, it was a blast from the past as so everyone is gossiping about. Let's hope everyone else got drunk on booze and did it with a bunch of fat guys! How was your day, Dosu?"_

"_Kin! That's not part of the speech!"_

"_Well…it's a stupid speech…ANYWAY! This is the Kin Tsuchi, the sexy school station reporter—"_

(Cough!)

"…_you have something to say, funny boy?"_

"_No, nope! Not at all! Continue!"_

"—_speaking. And that's just my anchor partner Dosu Kinuta the Jesting Jackass. ANYWAY! Good Morning everyone—"_

"_You just said 'good morning everyone'…can you just stick to the speech?"_

"_Go burn in hell, baka…ANYWAY! We hope to have many of our students participate in many of our exciting activities to show school-wide spirit of the Konoha Burning Leaves! The basketball tryouts for boys and girls will be held in the upper and lower gym, upper for girls, lower for boys. And today's cafeteria luncheon menu is Special Meatloaf Day! Yummy! Pick up your forks, peel off the msg layer, and dig in! And—Dosu, what are you doing?"_

"_KIN! Could you stop procrastinating and just READ the speech!" _

"_Yeah, but you're playing around with your matchbox, that's not allowed at school…"_

"_KIN!"_

"_Okay, okay, just don't get caught over the microphone...ANYWAY! We hope you all have a wonderful first day back in school, we also hope you had a good spring vacation, yessiree! Oh from our gossip response of the day, from a lovely very reliable source of Sabaku Temari, we just had updates that in the First Corridor, a new girl—which we welcome with open arms to our wonderful home of Konoha High—hello there, Haruno Sakura! And gossip goes that she knocked down two of the hottest guys Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke-kun—I LOVE YOU SASUKE-KUN! Well, anyway, she knocked down two of them, and runs and hugged a DORK! Unbelievable news, is it not, Dosu?"_

"_Kin, you're not allowed to tell gossip over the microphone or scream 'I love you Sasuke-kun!' like a moron."_

"_We're not!"_

"_No, just—"_

"_I can do whatever I want, you bastard. And to the rest of the school, students, please treat the learning grounds like your own kitchen, but if our kitchen is dirty just don't dirty your school! Please don't litter or damage any school property—Feh! Like that's not going to happen…"_

"_They heard that…"_

"_Dosu, can you not see that I'm talking right now…? Stop being such a bastard and stop annoying the fricking hell out of me! YOU GOT THAT! Now…where am I? Oh yes, and just have a heck of a day! Cut and out!" _

"_You sounded like a whore over the radio…"_

"_Go jump off a building, dick..."_

"_Bitch."_

"_Jackass."_

"_Whiney Pig!"_

"_Slimy eel!"_

"_OW! KIN YOU MOTHER—" _

(**Beep…….**)

* * *

Iruka sweat-dropped in his empty class, "What a great learning environment we provide for the kids…"

* * *

(_Earlier in the day_)

Uzumaki Naruto trudged along the long hallway, with his navy school jacket unzipped all the way, showing off a bohemian Hawaiian shirt with splashes of yellow and orange tropical floral patterns in place of a white undershirt and his red tie was left hanging around his upturned collar. Naruto had a lot of books and junk balancing in his hands, he quickly twirled the combinations and then he grabbed the little annoying metal handle to open the locker. But it remained closed.

He shifted the books in his arms, then used his free hand to smack the locker open once. Then twice when it didn't work. He scrunched up his sleeves angrily punched the locker door. Then he dropped all the books on the floor, spat out the history notebook between his teeth, and fiercely began to attack it without badly landed kicks and punches.

"OPEN UP YOU STUPID RETARDED DOOR! OPEN UP! OPEN UP! OPEN UP!" he hit the door until it creaked open.

Naruto had on a shit-eating grin, and popped open his locker door, and held the lock handle in his lips. He stuffed all the books and shit into his locker, looked at his handy-dandy work. But suddenly the stuffed locker began to quake. And immediately, as if in a second, it had erupted all his crammed books, paperwork, spare change, sports duffel bag, smelly unwashed gym socks, a hot water canteen, Chinese chopsticks, packets of his precious ramen noodle bowls, and all the crap he really didn't need.

Every single item fell on the floor, and he was flipping and doing cartwheels of frustration.

"YOU FUCKING DAMN LOCKER! GOD DAMN _YOU_ AND YOUR CHEAP _BEIGE_ PAINT!" Naruto exclaimed, his hands ruffling up his hair, "WHY WON'T YOU WORK WITH ME!" He catapult more books into the locker, already drooling with ramen bowls and flying papers.

He didn't notice his two friends blinking and sweat-dropping at his animal behavior.

Momochi Haku was a fairly tall boy with nice feminine looks, with long dark hair that was all twisted into a messy bun with origami hair sticks poking right through them. Two chunks of long bangs had left his high forehead naked, and layered the sides of his cheeks down to his chest. Though he could pass for a girl, he _almost_ acted like a gay guy you would see on that _Queer Eye for the Straight Guy_ show, with his gray lipstick and stylish light traditional make-up. He wore his navy jacket tied around his shoulders, showing off a white long-sleeved buttoned undershirt (white enough to be presented for a wet t-shirt contest) and his pants bottoms rolled up to his calves.

Inuzuka Kiba had an appointment in a body art shop, having two dark red scars on his cheeks to match his canine-like features ever since Naruto had suggested him to do so. And he didn't look half bad too. He had messy locks of dark brown, his eyes were like split pupils. He was rather good-looking, in a solid rough jagged way. Kiba stayed taller than Naruto but shorter than Haku, with a predatorily look on his face whenever he sees a pretty girl walk by. He wore his uniform casually, only his navy jacket was unzipped because of the heat.

Kiba had always bought his damn dog Akamaru to school, since not one teacher seem to be disapproving of it.

Haku looked at his frothing mouth, "Probably because you keep putting so much junk in it." He picked up a yellow fly swatter and a two-week old half finished power bar off the floor helpfully. Their other friend wasn't even close to helping the poor loud boy.

"What an idiot…arguing with a school locker, no less," Kiba snorted, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets, "You know, you should at least clean out your locker, try not to put so much shit you don't even need." He reached up his hand into his hair which sat a small white dog and petted it affectionately that it barked cutely.

"So, what? I should put the shit I _need_ in the locker instead?" Naruto laughed, "Yeah, right…that's a laugh, thanks for cheering me up mutt face!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT YOU DEAD LAST!" Kiba went into a full mode of rapid dog, his dark red tattoos brought more effect to his sharp white teeth. Akamaru, his dog, barked in agreement. But when he sniffed something weird, he coughed gutturally and slapped two hands on his face when Momochi picked something up.

Haku slipped on some gloves he snatched out of no where and picked up a spilling awful-smelling white mystery formula that inherited and stuck around the sides of a baseball cap. He looked as if he swallowed something rancid, and both he and Kiba pinched their noses drastically, "What the hell is that!" he cried, disgustedly, "Gah! It has a smell of decaying carcass!"

"Oh god, is that _yogurt?_" Kiba exclaimed peering into the bubbling substance, the undesirable smell already made an animated green fog in the air. Akamaru, on his head, had buried its sensitive nose into his dark tresses as it whined.

Naruto peered into the cap, and laughed nervously, "Oh I can explain about that, it used to be milk but it—"

"OH _GROSS!_ FUCKING DISGUSTING MAN!" Haku and Kiba threw away that 'thing' into the trash instantly, thought it left a skinny trail of chunky rotten milk which had a graying color of blue cheese when it was spilt.

"Ah heh, heh," Naruto chuckled fretfully, "Thanks for throwing that away."

"Dude! Call the exterminator!" Haku barked, using the fly swatter rapidly to avoid any invisible flies.

"Quit exaggerating man,"

"How does Jiraiya-sama stand living with you, man!" Kiba shouted at his blond friend, who shrugged indifferently.

"Hey! I'm not that bad! Ero-Sennin just stays at one part of the house, I stay at the other," Naruto grinned, picking up his books and papers, "Come on, help me you losers, I actually did my homework during the break."

Kiba blinked, surprised, "Wow, that's a start."

"Hm, I wondering why you didn't call me over the week to copy my math answers," Haku replied thoughtfully, his big brown eyes sparkled with curiosity, "So where did you go this spring break?"

"Well, I didn't drink booze or sleep with any fat guys," Naruto grinned, stuffing more junk into his locker, "But I did get to ride in Jiraiya's Lamborghini—it was so sweet—and spend time with my older friends Obaa-san, Onee-chan, and this cute girl—"

"_Cute girl?_ I had to clean out the excrement in the animal shelter and you actually got to see girls!" Kiba yelled, jealously, "Lucky idiot."

"Do you talk to girls with that mouth?" Naruto asked, smiling at the mention joking of bodily secretions.

"So who is she? Uh, 'Obaa-sans' daughter or something?"

"Nah, nothing like that, Haku. She's too ugly and old to get pregnant, but she's the caretaker of the girl so I got to spend time with someone my own age. Actually, now that I think about it, she was a very old friend of mine. We went to elementary school together until, you know, her rich parents got some promotion or—YES! I DID IT!" Naruto cried and pumped up his fist in celebration when everything was crammed in his already tight locker, and he pushed the door to close roughly and snapped the handle of the lock shut.

He switched back to his nonchalant voice, "She is quite nice, a little shy, but she's a great person to be around."

"What's the girl's name—"

Before Kiba got his question out, someone behind him began to yell 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' The trio turned their heads to the commotion, a gathering of the students in the hallways began to block the sights of the famous assholes Uchiha-teme and Hyuuga-teme. Haku shook his head shamefully, "I really hope they stop doing that, it's getting really annoying."

"I know, it's like cut right out from some cheap bad high school movie," Kiba tossed back the messy bangs from his split eyes, his face retorted into irritation and obvious deep dislike for either of the popular guys. And in a blinking of the school skylights, it flashed pieces of bright emerald hues from far away, beyond the usual faces of people they saw almost every fucking day, it came to the point when all they saw was a girl's eyes on them. Or someone standing right next to them.

"Naruto, why is that girl staring at you?" Haku asked nervously.

Her green eyes were piercing.

"I think I know her," Naruto squint his blue eyes (they were standing pretty far away from her), he clicked his tongue in confusion, "I swear I'd seen her somewhere…"

"What is it? Winter or something?" Kiba remarked rudely, aiming to criticize her stupid gray hat that covered all of her hair and all of her forehead, leaving only a pale face with intense teal eyes. Everyone watched her feet shift.

And a referee gun was shot.

"SAKURA!" a new teacher yelled, but the girl bolted towards. It was in a flash when people were pushed aside, and Neji and Sasuke were thrown off each other with their backs knocking into other people, and Naruto was completely knocked out by two arms that clasped onto him like the pincers of an annoying giant crab that jumped out of its tank.

His middle was highly invaded, and he was thrust side to side when the crazy girl had held him. His arms flailed side to side, with his legs dangling limply when the new girl lifted him up with amazing strength and she giggled with a blush on her cheeks. She had taken the prize while leaving everyone in the hallway of all clichés and species in shock, and whilst gossip was thrown in the air like money to the poor. Never in their lives had they ever seen this sight, as if Sakura had her head in an opened mouth of a mighty circus lion, his breath on her ski cap.

"NARUTO!" she shouted in happiness, joy, all sorts of these silly emotions.

She threw him off her and punched her hand playfully on his shoulder (if 'playfully' meant an almost dislocated arm), "Why the hell didn't you tell me you were going to this school?" she asked eagerly, her eyes glimmering with interest, "And I thought I was going to be alone in the damn school!"

Naruto looked at her weirdly, "Who…are _you_…?"

"Gah! You have the worst memory! I'm Haruno Sakura, remember!" She smiled prettily, which made both Haku and Kiba blush.

"Haruno Sakura?" Then realization had landed, "HARUNO SAKURA? SAKURA-CHAN? No way!"

"Yeah! Finally!" Sakura said, relieved.

"Man, I can't believe you're still wearing that hat! I almost didn't recognize you!" Naruto laughed, smiling.

"I know," she nodded.

"Then why don't you take it off?"

"I-I, um…" Sakura bit her lip, and shuffled into her blouse pocket, pulling out her folded schedule, "What class number is your homeroom?" she changed the subject.

"Uh, room one-forty-six," Naruto replied back, dumbly, "I got Hayate-sensei."

"Really? Me too!" she cried, giggling. In another turning event, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Stunned looks all around.

Sakura was saying all sorts of things, while Naruto was answering back in the same velocity, her hand connected to his wrist as she pulled him to their homeroom. Haku and Kiba (and Akamaru) made a point of following them with confused looks. Everyone began to gather and gossip fiercely with wonder about this strange weirdo. And when Sakura walked past Neji and Sasuke, she then ignored them like they were nothing which really got their attentions. Naruto was quite surprised too, and very impressed.

Then the bell rung. School was starting.

Temari and Tenten were still in utter shock, a few boys like Rock Lee thought better of the new girl, and Ino was curious of her, too. Shizume smiled, remembering Naruto very well as she scooped up Tonton in her arms and went a floor up to her classroom. Neji had scoffed and walked to his homeroom with his best friends, while Sasuke had walked not far behind. It was something weird, whether it were full moon or not.

"You know what, Haku?"

"Yeah Kiba?"

"Had you actually wondered if there were a girl out there who thinks Naruto is interesting?"

They burst into laughter and ran after Naruto. And while the crowd became to lessen in the First Corridor, only a person stood with a downcast look on her face. She looked sadly to herself, a bit envious of Sakura but far from jealousy. She turned around with slumped shoulders, her white eyes half-lidded, "There's more than one…" she depressingly murmured, and disappeared to her class before the late bell could ring.

School was in session.

**To Be Continued**

_I was in a roll with updates, so I decided to update a second chapter. _

_I hope everyone are getting amused by it, thank you for reviewing the last chapter! _


	3. Hard Knock Life for Us

**Disclaimer:** Please, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** THIRD CHAPTER!

Chapter Three

**Hard Knock Life for Us**

"So is Hayate-sensei a hard teacher?" the green-eyed girl asked Naruto, who chose to sit next to her on the right by the windows. Kids start to file into the classroom with hoots and talkative voices.

"Nah, well, not that hard," Naruto grinned, unzipping his orange backpack and took out a notebook, "You'll like him, he's one of the better teachers in this shit hole." She watched attentively when the notebook cover was sprawled with chicken scratches made by ball-point pens, all badly drawn stick-figures with empty circles that had wild curly hair shooting out in disarray and big 'boobies' on the thin chests, covered with lopsided words of 'Most Wanted'. Sakura made a wincing face when she saw that, and glared at him for offending the opposite gender.

…and for being _so_ disgusting…

Naruto shrugged and flipped over some pages of the notebook where he began to scotch tape gum wrappers and chocolate bar logos over the blue lines. A burly young man with frightening, yet exotic red scars on his face took the liberty to flirt shamelessly with a girl with four amber ponytails and sharp cerulean eyes. When she walked by her desk, she grinned at Sakura with her eyes drifting over her hat as if wondering what kind of hair she had. Or if she had any hair at all.

The girl's stare was not the only one bothering her, some other's were more likely inquisitive and analytical as if they were judging her (probably they were), but people began to whisper to their seating mates. One blond girl she noticed was looking at her, not in a scoffing probing way, but just curious.

Someone in front of her tapped on her elbow, getting her attention. It was a rather tall guy with a pale complexion and a crazy mop of wild dark brown hair held tightly up with a matching navy headband, his eyes were covered up with hollow black circles of his sunglasses. His face was unmarred, his thin lips were taut and unmoving, even when he began to talk to her.

"You dropped your pencil," she saw his long pale fingers grasped on her plain white mechanical pencil that fell on the wooden ground, his look was apathetic. His voice was deep and low.

"Thank you," she said, placing the writing tool on her desk, looking up again, "I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm new."

He took his time to speak, "I know, my name is Aburame Shino." Without any other words, he turned around and sat two desks away from her in the front. Before she could set out her school books, someone quickly dashed to sit right in front of her with his/her elbows on her desktop.

"You are so cool, you know that?" he/she said so suddenly, unlike the plaintive politeness of that Shino guy, "I was obviously shocked! I mean, I didn't you had in you! I like you Sakura-kun, you're very interesting! And of course, anyone who is Naruto-kun's friend is my friend too! Oh, and did I mention, you have nice eyes? Very pure and green!" With an exhilarated sigh, he/she patted the back of his/her neck, "I can tell you must be nervous about your first day here in Konohagakure High! I was too, well when I a freshmen but that's going off the point! So how's your day…?"

His/her eyes were big and brown, his/her lips were silvery-gray from the lipstick he wore and his/her expression was utterly happy. His/her hair was styled partly into a bun with sticks, and long bangs tied lowly with elastic ties down to his/her chest. But his/her chest was covered by the sleeves of his navy jacket he tied around his shoulders. When she looked closely, she saw very feminine looks then when she blinked all she saw were his/her masculine features when she saw the arch of his/her nose and his/her jaw. Sakura couldn't make up her mind whether this person was either a boy or a girl (or both?), and so she smiled uneasily and very nervously. "It's going pretty well, thank you for asking…uh…?"

"It's Momochi Haku!" he/she giggled, his/her face was like a porcelain face.

"Gah! Haku! You're scaring the poor girl!" a brunette girl with two hair buns cried from across the classroom, instantly stopping her talk with this tall guy with black buggy eyes, a bowl-cut, and thick creepy eyebrows.

"No I'm not! I just want to be friends with her!" Haku hurled back, his/her brown eyes slightly narrowed. He/she turned back to Sakura with a huge toothy smile, "We're just small talking aren't we?"

"Yeah…of course, sure…" she was uncertain about his/her actions, even though she knew Haku was just being nice from the bottom of his/her heart. The tattoo guy laughed, while a dog barked and she didn't know a dog was even allowed in the campus.

"SEE!" Haku exclaimed back at the girl, who was rolling her dark eyes with a grin on her face.

Before he/she could talk to her again, someone walked hastily to her side and roughly wretched his hand on her bicep bringing her quickly off her seat. Soon Shino, the two staring blond girls, the brunette and his friend looked around when they heard a screeching noise of the chair. She was shocked, then turned deathly afraid when she was met with two blazing white eyes. Naruto quickly got up too, and so did that tattoo guy and Haku. This kind of action had everyone in the classroom, even a few people outside in the hallway who looked into the room had seen it and stopped their activities.

"Hey! Hey! Neji get off her!" Naruto yelled, grabbed his hand on the guy's wrist, but the Neji fellow threw off his arm. He strictly set his terrifying eyes on the pesky girl's wide green ones.

"Don't you EVER push me like that EVER again, do you hear me?" Neji barked, shaking her quite roughly. Sakura didn't know what he was talking about, because she _did _push a few aside but she clearly didn't remember _him_.

All around the classroom, some of the people were either deathly quiet or a few (some of his many, many fan girls) were glaring at Sakura, either jealous of her getting their Neji-kun's undivided attention or angry that Sakura had ignited his anger. The more courageous ones were like Naruto, and the past paragraph of people mentioned by the author.

Sakura's entire body was fidgeting as she looked wide-eyed at this young man, this bully, reminding her of all things in her past…something completely snapped, something had horrified her, as if she was remembering all those years in elementary, middle school, the past three and a half years of high school in all the different countries she moved…always the same thing, always about her looks, her personality…

She couldn't speak, she couldn't talk. Her toes curled underneath the woolen fabric of her knee-length socks and the hard cover of her leather strapped shoes with those clickety-clack heels, to her jelly-like legs. Voices rolled her head, as if the entire face of that man's face had been altered. It had changed his angry white eyes to flaming taunting orbs of evil brown, from his dark coffee-brown hair to lopsided cuts of raven black from his clenched teeth to a smirking mouth of lip gloss. _Watanabe Ami._ From elementary.

Then changing over and over again with past faces to all sorts of other bullies who picked on her. _Hans-Jurgen Braunemaiur from Germany._ _Alexandra Smith from the States. Akasun Sasori from Tokyo. Fritz. Deidara. Tamika. Raidon. Henri. Carlotta. Bernadette. Estevan. _Blond hair, pale-skinned, brown hair, short and cropped, long and straight, freckled face, dark skinned, blue eyes, black eyes, tall, short, beautiful, good-looking, double-jointed, black hair, violet hair, green eyes unlike her own, all averaged fore headed, all normal, all horrible, all evil in their ways but so alike with each other. From all around the world, people teased her, taunt her and she had remembered every moment with them…

She broke down completely, unable to breath while her lungs engulfed her and turned her into a prone wooden doll, her heart was splintered and cut into halves, turning out all her inner fears so easily like turning out folded sleeve cuffs, all of her dreaded fears and abandoned emotions poured out and took over her, turning her…into something so small, so weak…so _afraid_…that she could not hear the words a few helpful people tried to throw into Neji's ears, or Naruto's electric blue eyes…she could feel his iron grasp on her arm burning her delicate skin like acid, and the worst part was that she wasn't angry at the guy but at _herself_…

Her difference.

Ino was shocked, and she saw all of that, she was utterly sympathetic for the girl. Haku had turned from innocent to rage, proving how close virtue and evil were, with his fists clenched from leaping onto that crazy Hyuuga. Shino's brows lowered tensely. Akamaru growled. People kept getting off their seats and gathering around Sakura and Neji.

"Hey Takara-chan! Look into that class!" one passerby to her friend, pointing into the display.

"Whoa, what's happening in there?"

"CUT IT OUT!" Kiba yelled at Neji, his dog barking.

"That girl has a lot of nerve getting Neji-kun angry!" one fan girl cried, with a toss of her hair.

"Neji! That's not fair! You _promised_ me not to do that!" Tenten yelled, irritatingly, walking over immediately.

"NEJI! YOU SHOULD STOP YOUR RIDICULOUS WAYS! YOUR YOUTH WOULD NOT SUFFICE IF YOU KEEP CONTINUING!" Lee cried, his cries doing nothing.

"Naruto, you fricking loser!" Temari held him back.

"YOU BASTARD! STOP HARASSING HER!" Naruto struggled not to turn demonic.

"Woman! Listen and look at me while I talk!" Neji shook her frozen body, not really knowing what was happening to the girl's lifeless green eyes and the way her hands shook when she kept petting her ski-cap, tucking in invisible hairs, her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish's mouth. Her face was flushed of all color, her eyes darting elsewhere desperately.

"PUT HER DOWN!" Uzumaki Naruto cried, his voice seething and his hands were pleading to bash some heads.

Neji had always had had an odd respect for Naruto. And he obliged, watching her sink down into her seat like marionette doll drawn by strings in crooked movements, and he came to thinking about the new girl.

In that moment when he looked at her, Neji realized what he was doing and the intensity of his humiliation had dried up. He listened to Naruto, his idiot friends Tenten and Lee, he saw the sizzling eyes of Haku's, he noticed all the people around him and how this could soon affect him in a way he much not prefer, and he should stop it. Neji looked apologetic and his anger vanished. He let go of Sakura, sorry for putting the new girl on the spot. He knew he shouldn't have done that, but he again remembered the morning when his uncle began to give him a hard time, his father and mother too, then that Uchiha bastard ignited him into a human torch. He really didn't mean it, but when this girl had pushed him into other people when all everyone could talk about was her fifteen minute fame, all he knew of was his hurt pride…he really didn't mean to hurt her…

In many respects, this girl had reminded of Hinata-sama…

He walked back to his desk. Tenten and Lee were aggravated at him, but forgave him even though they clearly were pretty much pissed off. The entire class was quiet, what just happened was so much bigger than the Uchiha-Hyuuga-got-pushed-apart moment. They eyed the hat-wearing girl and felt sorry for her.

"Good morning, you insignificant specks of dirt…" Gekkou Hayate whispered coughing, his eyes straight ahead. His students quickly stopped joshing each other and went to their seats. He shook away the ache from his head and looked at the seniors running back to their desks. He coughed to get their attention like always and smiled behind a tired mouth that was almost slipping off his face. The drooping dark lids and coughing fits only gave his students in the front roll to inch back their desks to avoid the mysterious chronic sickness he was infested with. His uncombed brown hair was tied with a black bandana (ironically was illegal in schools), a seal-gray cardigan over his thin shoulders, and a slouch in his posture.

He was quite surprised, looking at each student, though not even noticing a shaking Sakura, and raised his eyebrows up into the chunk of brown hair that hung in between his eyes. He never had his homeroom so quiet before.

"Uh…" Hayate looked around again, coughing in his hand, "Settle in, class?"

* * *

The hallways were empty, leaving only the quiet sounds of music coming off someone's earphones. The janitor walked around, mopping up the linoleum floors after he left Iruka-sensei's classroom all clean and shiny. He whistled and danced to the music, knowing very much what happened in Room 146, Gekkou-san's room. When the tardy bell rung off, everyone tucked into their classes, he drifted away with his cleaning tools whistling and mopping with soapy waters, the janitor smiled behind his mask.

* * *

After the tardy bell rang, he finally settled in his seat letting his long black-blue bangs fall in front of his onyx eyes. He folded his arms together grudgingly, spending the first fifteen minutes listening to his homeroom teacher Mitarashi Anko-sensei bitch about her summer like a child. He didn't really want to listen to her spring vacation of her spending her precious time in the junkyard, where she had packed iron and lifted weights like a maniac, then challenging her students in a risky game of Blackjack. Even though gambling is illegal in school, she was an immature wild woman when she wasn't around other adults. 

He leaned into his chair, the back of his dark hair had come closer to the girl who sat behind him. She cooed and blushed infinitely at having that kind of great luck, as if Sasuke-kun had planned for her to sniff his hair. Other girls who sat all around were either fawning over him or angry and jealous over that damn lucky fan girl. The guys in his class, like Shikamaru and Chouji, were more engaged in talking boringly with each other, or like that Shakespeare guy Kankuro who was in for the blackjack deal with Anko-sensei.

"I bet you five bucks," Sabaku Kankuro announced.

"Ha! I put in ten!" Akadou Yoroi cried.

"Twenty for ya fuckers!" Tayuya swore.

"Tayuya! Girls aren't supposed to use bad language!" Jiroubou scolded.

"I'll put in twelve dollars and seventeen cents!"

"Eight bucks!"

"Twenty-five!"

"Hey! Let me bet some!" a kid whined, slapping some money out.

Anko's childish dark brown eyes glittered with greed as the math teacher began to shuffle up her 'special' deck.

Sasuke rolled his black eyes at the morons in his classroom, wondering if he were the only sane person alive on earth. When he closed his beautiful orbs from the entire world, girls were slightly disappointed but loved him anyway, and he began to think. The Uchiha could already feel the women's eyes on him, caressing his pale unfeeling skin with their staring, their longing. He really didn't give a damn, when he was reminded of that girl all he could do was question about her to himself.

He only saw her push him and the Hyuuga apart, he felt her hand on his chest when she went through them. Soft but forceful, her eyes were only looking ahead. It was strange. Very strange for a girl to openly touch him, and yet not know it…she dismissed him like nothing important which was weird because he was supposed to be _Sasuke-kun_ to the women around him—not that he cared. But it was weird for any girl not to admire him, well on the exception of Hyuuga Hinata who sat in the corner of the classroom with her sad white eyes on her lap, but he never really cared about her either.

That girl, Sakura, was it? She was a weird, yet interesting one.

He opened his eyes when moans and groans of lost had filled the room.

"Aww, man!"

"I can't believe I lost!"

Anko's devilish grin grew and grew when the boys who betted in the gambling circle slapped their money on her hand.

"How does she do it?"

"She always, always wins!"

"I'll get her next time!"

And after that sentence, Sasuke did sense that for pushing him (touching him nonetheless) so rudely, he glared forward, that new girl would get it for his humiliation…and his entertainment.

**To Be Continued**

_I think I'm going to not tell anyone about the pairings, I don't want anyone just reading my story for that reason. _

_Even so, any pairing suggestions? But it's not a poll._

_Don't blame Neji, he just has problems of his own. _


	4. Big Girls Don’t Cry

**Disclaimer:** Yeah right, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** Thank you for the pairings suggestions! Keep them rolling!

Uh, well. I know I really need a life, here's another chapter: Enjoy!

Chapter Four

**Big Girls Don't Cry**

When homeroom ended, fifteen minutes of complete silence that even scared Hayate, Sakura walked out of the classroom as quickly as possible to avoid anyone especially that white-eyed guy. She didn't want to think about it. She really didn't to talk about it with anyone, mostly Tsunade because in no time the blond caretaker would be on Neji's ass if she EVER found out that her favorite girl was harassed on her first day. Despite the fact Sakura wasn't at all angry at him.

She only wanted to forget but she was quite surprised when the next three days of school had gone by so quickly.

First Period was _World Literature_, with Umino Iruka-sensei who was a kind fatherly man who tries to strict and hard on students but loved everyone of them, especially the troublemaker Naruto, who reminded him of his childhood self. The classroom was huge, with black and white construction that was taped all around the room, with past 'A' projects he'd given out. She found it interesting to see him prop himself on a stool in front of the class where they pushed the desks to the end of the room, as if it were a ritual, and read to the entire classroom of quiet and listening students about old legendary poetry. Sakura grinned when she sat in the inner circle with Naruto, listening attentively to the brunette man talk about poets, in a way where he gestured around with his hands and made everyone laugh. And what she loved most in her first impression was how Iruka-sensei had everyone to open up their minds and give out their own opinions, making the class entertained.

"So," Iruka looked around the classroom, pointing to someone in the back, "Shikamaru, what do you think about Byron?"

She turned away, seeing a boy, who looked he rather be sleeping, shrug, "Well…he slept with everyone, didn't he? He must have been a player." People around him snickered.

"Player!" a girl, who sat a few people away from him, snorted. It was the same girl who was in her homeroom with blue eyes and platinum blond hair, "Don't you mean a male slut! I mean he was literally _throwing_ himself to the women!"

Half the class laughed, while some grinned. Iruka was highly amused, "Yes, yes he was. Actually, he was a very famous poet who was also had noble blood in him. He had drove women everyone crazy with his charms and poems," he scratched his head a little, thinking, "Hmm…now that I think of it, he was a strange man. Lord Byron was a strong believer in love, and he thrived in it. Kept a diary of all his affairs—though his wife burned it…"

"A _wife?_" Naruto mocked, "How the hell did she get _him_ to _settle_ down!" Sakura spotted a navy-haired girl not far away from the blonde, just blushing in her pale cheeks whenever he talked. Then the entire class began to start all over with entertainment. Sakura only felt more disappointed when the bell rung and she left to go to her next class.

Second Period was _Calculus_, taught by Yuuhi Kurenai-sensei. Sakura was a little upset that she had two classes without the Uzumaki, but she tried not to be so angry. The teacher was a beautiful woman with sexy wavy dark hair, red lips, and wore a tight suit and short skirt, showing off her long legs. She had wondered whether or not, the students were busy writing down their notes or looking at her figure. She found the woman to be kind and gentle, strict but yielding. She handed them a giant load of class work, math problems that even had her, a straight 'A' student, mind boggling and pencil tapping on the tabletop. The only people she had recognized in the class were that Shino guy who sat in front of her, quiet and impassive while his seating mates were passing notes to each other whenever Kurenai wrote on the board. Kiba, the tattoo-guy, had sat next to Sakura with a giant smile on his face and his white dog Akamaru snuggled comfortably in his lap as he bombarded his 'best friend' Shino for answers over and over again.

"_Pshh!_ Shino! What's the answer to number twenty-five?" he whispered urgently, poking the solid boy with a pencil.

Shino turned only a fraction to him, murmuring back in his deep voice, "Prime Minister of China."

Kiba looked confused at him, poking him again, "But it's a _math_ question!"

"It's a hard question," Shino whispered.

Kiba stared at Shino's paper, with a stern frown, "But you wrote something different!"

"I wrote down the wrong answer, so our papers won't match," Shino replied quietly.

"Oh," Kiba glanced at Shino then he grinned hugely, "Thanks! You're the best!" He quickly jotted down the 'right' answer.

Sakura could have sworn the tiniest of smirks had appeared on Shino's thin mouth. She snorted to herself, inwardly applauding the young man's quick wit.

Third Period was _Visual Arts_, where Shiranui Genma was teaching. He was a suave laidback man who also wore a black beanie on his head, letting down his short cropped brown hair. He chewed irritatingly on a long toothpick, showing a few of his nice teeth at the corner of his mouth. He had personally painted the entire room a light shade of green, almost lime, covered with paintings and drawings done by his star pupils who were inspired by his talents and teaching. Sakura never thought of herself as an artist but she found out how fun it was to draw with charcoal, smudging the pads of her fingers while she tried to sketch out the object in front of her. The strange kid, Momochi Haku, had found him/herself in a mode where all he/she did was look directly at the large piece of white paper, while ignoring all distractions, and carved out a divine drawing of a vase with three white carnations with just his/her piece of black charcoal. He/she grinned most bashfully when Genma began to appraise his/her drawing, pointing to the shades and coloring at the end of class.

"You're so good at it, Haku," Sakura complimented, when they walked out of the classroom.

"Why, thank you Sakura-kun!" Haku exclaimed, "I'd always love art—"

"Really?"

"Yes, but I want to become a mechanic engineer one day!" his/her brown eyes began to sparkle, leaving the green-eyed girl to sweat-drop.

Fourth Period was _Physical Education_, taught by Maito Gai. She was very happy when Naruto, Haku, Shino, and Kiba (and Akamaru) all were in the co-ed class, a little upset when Neji was there too, but what completed her excitement was…that…the teacher…was…a…little…too…

"…AND UP AND DOWN! AND UP AND DOWN! COME ON MY PUPILS, YOU MUST LOOSEN UP THOSE MUSCLES!" He was dressed in a very thin bright green spandex suit that showed every one of his, um, curves, with orange leg warmers and a thick vest with a hood right over his horrible fashion disaster. When he stretched in that disturbing suit, his pelvis moving this way and that which pulled on the fabric around the forbidden crouch zone…_well_, let's say people throw sand on their eyes…

Sakura, dressed in a white tee shirt, red (short) shorts, and white sneakers, jogged around the giant oval of the track field with a group of other classmates. She was minding her own business just listening to Haku complaining about his/her long hair flying in his/her face to Naruto and Kiba, Sakura was sidestepped with another girl.

"Hey! Your name is Haruno Sakura, right?" her long blond ponytail was whipping in the air as she ran sweating, huffing and puffing.

"Yes," Sakura replied, her body going up and down with every one of her steps on the hard ground.

Her light blue eyes sparkled, her smile adorned on her face, "Oh! I'm Yamanaka Ino! We haven't been properly introduced! Welcome to Konoha High!"

"Thank you," Sakura smiled lightly, beginning to pace herself with Ino.

"Right after this class, you should come and sit with me and my friends at lunch!" Ino grinned happily, "Sound okay?"

"I-I guess," Sakura blushed embarrassingly, not really expecting such a blunt conversation.

"Alright then!" Before Ino could intercept back where her friends, the other blonde and brunette, were running, she looked at Sakura from head to toe, smiling curiously, "You should talk more! No need to be so shy around me!"

"I'll think about it," Sakura replied back, causing the blonde to smile wider.

"You're funny! Okay, I'll see you outside the girl's locker room! Ta-ta!" Ino waved and ran to her friends.

Sakura was oddly happy, while she tried to pay attention to Naruto and Kiba bitch at each other about ramen and steak, stating which was better, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop thinking about what would happen at lunch. But soon it quickly snapped away when a boy running past her, nudged against her shoulder quite roughly. She would have almost tripped, but she looked up holding her hand on top of her ski cap, looking at the back of someone's raven hair that been styled haphazardly in a cut so soft yet sharp. Like a chicken's back, she noted thoughtfully.

She walked out of the locker room, seeing that Ino was already there fixing her make-up in a cosmetic case with a small mirror. She waved brightly, leading the new girl her way.

They stood in line in the cafeteria, Ino starting off in a conversation.

"You know what? I have been quite curious of you lately, Sakura-san!" Ino smiled, picking up a plate of salad and a carton of milk from the pantries, "For the last three days, I thought I had seen no one with a prettier shade of green than yours."

Sakura's eyes widened, her cheeks reddening, "Thank you…" Even the Macaroni Special looked more appetizing at that very moment.

"Yup!" Ino chirped, fluttering her eyes, "You know…I wish I had talked to you on the first day, but when Neji-san had—"

"Don't worry about it," Sakura interrupted immediately, "It was nothing."

"Hmm, I wished he would have apologized to you," Ino said thoughtfully, "I been seeing him trying to avoid you—but I know for a fact that that guy is always too damn stubborn to say 'sorry'. Well," she looked over, rolling her eyes slightly, "Actually now that I think about it, I think all guys are like that…it's their _egos_…" she whispered jokily, causing Sakura to giggle.

"I suppose, but really, I'm okay," the new girl smiled warmly. Ino frowned quite upsettingly.

"When I saw you at homeroom that day, I thought you were about to cry…" Ino whispered, then wishing she could have swallowed back her words, "Uh, I-I mean—you know, heh…well—"

"Yes, I was about to," Sakura said solemnly, her eyes looking far away. She shook her head as if remembering something, grinning, "But you should know, that 'big girls don't cry'…"

Ino nodded, but reconsidered, "I don't know, new girl…I think everyone is allowed to cry."

Sakura decided not to say anything else when she paid for her lunch, taking her tray with her, and followed Ino while she took her over to the open cafeteria, to the grass fields and fountain where many of the kids sat to enjoy the sunny day. Sakura saw that many of the round blue plastic tables and benches were taken, and that Ino was leading her to the two most crowded tables in the field, right by the marble fountain that sprayed clear crystal water into the pool from the open mouths of ceramic toads.

The two tables were bombarded with mostly good-looking people who wore accessories over their uniforms, like rhinestone belts around their maroon pleated skirts, bracelets, silver rings, chandelier earrings, and bandanas. All their hair was styled nicely, like it had taken hours to be done, and the girls had worn makeup and polished their nails into nice colors. A few of the occupants there had scared her, since they were staring directly at her, judging her from the way she dressed herself in her uniform to her ski cap. They began to gossip continuously about her, a few of the girls, the blonde and brunette, had walked excitedly up to Ino.

Sakura then had spotted Neji sitting quietly with his best friend, the weird guy with the cartoon eyes and very thick eyebrows who was looking and blushing at the sight of her when she walked behind Ino. She ignored every one of them, just taking a look around the area and breathing into the fresh air. When she glanced at the far side, able right across the field to a table next to a beech tree, she saw that it was nearly empty except for one person—a girl, actually the girl who was in her World Literature class.

She smiled. She would rather be sitting elsewhere than a table stuffed with gossiping people she really didn't care about.

"So did you hear about what Hikari had done to her boyfriend after their first date? Huh?" Tenten asked excitedly for Ino's squeal and approval to hear more, but she didn't apparently.

"No, I'm not really interested," Ino turned around, expecting to see Sakura, but only to see no one.

"What are you looking for?" Temari asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I swore the new girl was right behind me! Where is she?" Ino searched frantically with her moving eyes that scanned the entire field. Tenten and Temari looked weirdly at her.

"Why are you so worried for? She just went over to sit with Hinata-san," Tenten urged, moving back to the lunch table, "Come on! I have tons of stories to tell you!" She made to grab Ino's arm but the blonde moved away with her lunch tray.

"But you're sitting away from Sasuke, Ino!" Tenten cried, reminding her of her crush who sat with the other popular people.

Ino froze then looked at them, "Uh…I just have to, guys…" There was a rough struggle for her _not_ to flirt with the emotionless hot guy.

"Whoa, is something wrong with you, Ino-chan?" Temari asked, placing her hand on her curvy hip, "You're acting strange again."

Ino looked apologetic to her two female friends, "Sorry ladies, but I promised to sit with Sakura-san at lunch today. Well, just for today."

"Well! If you're sitting elsewhere! I want to come too!" Tenten piped, quite eager to get away from the other girls at the table.

"Really?" Ino asked, blinking.

"Bah, I'll follow too," Temari went over to pick up her own tray, whispering hastily, "If I last one more minute listening to Rika talk about her nose job, I swear I am going to flip…or you know, watch her nose do some cartwheels…" They giggled.

"Oh God, her nose looks so _fake!_" Tenten burst into laughter, the three women walking to where Sakura was currently sitting.

"Hey! Why is Tenten-san sitting elsewhere?" Rock Lee asked hastily when he watched her walk with Ino and Temari to a different table. Actually many other of the 'popular' crowd had watched the three girls leave after the new girl who they had scorned with their glares. Gossiping and whispering went around, causing even Neji to turn his head around. When he saw where Sakura was sitting. His eyes expanded.

"She'd rather sit over with a nerd than with the cool people?" he asked stupidly, blurting out almost but he recovered with an abrupt cough almost like Hayate-sensei's.

"She's a strange one, alright," Lee grinned.

**To Be Continued**

_In this story, I do wish to tell everyone, I do not like telling anyone about the pairings. I feel it is unfair for me and for you guys. Uh, maybe just me…But, anyway, since its summer and I have absolutely nothing planned for my break, I decided to write and read fanfiction through the days. Quote from my Author's Note, _I need a life_. So just be grateful for the effort I put into those stories, and wait patiently (not greedily) for my updates, okay? _Okay

REVIEWER RESPONSES (uh…only able to answer a small few)

To **fallendreamer** – Thank you for reading my story, I'm glad you like it! I actually enjoyed reading your review. Don't worry I did have time to read your story, I did think it was pretty good though I thought the plot was a little overused, but nonetheless I could have bet it caught a lot of people's attention. However, I do strongly agree with a few of your reviewers, that you should double check your grammar (I know, I know, nobody's perfect) that way it would be better for your readers, and yourself, to understand it. Because it seemed to me you were rushing to get out your ideas, which is good! But you should put some effort into your progress. I was a bit worried that your story was going downhill because of the overused plot you had adapted, but maybe you should definitely take a look into your own experiences. Many writers use that style of writing, taking what had happened to them and transforming it to blend with fiction. Uh, maybe you are, I'm not sure. It did however worked for this story, and I bet Sakura could use a little more reality instead being just perfect and beautiful all the time (and taking chances in slapping a couple of people, not that I didn't like it). Just some of my suggestions, I hope this hadn't offended you because I do wish my current readers to still enjoy the stories instead of hating my guts. Anyway, good luck with your story!

To **animEvivvErz** – Hmm…you might not know, it IS only the third chapter. And I am going for a multi-chaptered story, I have a lot of hope in this one. But yes, there will be pairings. This story came to me one night, a few months ago, and I can tell it drove me crazy. So one day, I got really tired of it so I obliged and wrote down the first chapter…then the second, then some more…I was completely surprised when the readers began to review so quickly. But anyway, thank you for being one of them!

_And even more thanks for putting this baby on your favorites! _It was very nice of you!

To **tempus-hime** – Yeah I agree with you, I do hate the POV that most authors had continuously used, NOT that I'm offending anyone but it just doesn't flow as well if you keep blocking out the reader's trance whenever they read an exciting story.

To **LitoKyomi** – Well, I wasn't able to write to you in email, so I decided to create the story's reviewer responses. Wow, you asked me a lot of complicated things. So no to get my tongue twisted (or my fingers tired from typing in circles) I AM however going to tell you in question 4, that YES, it was Hyuuga Hinata, and sorry I can't tell anyone of the pairings. But anyway, I'm glad you liked the story and thank you for taking your time to review!

To **Isiri **– Uh, well if Kiba is allowed to bring his dog to school, then yes, I'm pretty sure Sakura is able to wear a hat to school. She got connections…I know her name was spelled S-H-I-Z-U-**N**-E but I thought S-H-I-Z-U-**M**-E sounded a lot prettier and I got used to typing her name that way. Thank you for liking and reviewing the story, you kind_s_ of people ROCK!

_AND THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO READ AND REVIEWED!_


	5. Rock Paper Scissors Fireball

**Disclaimer:** Doctor, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** Well, since I plan for this story to be a multi-chapter one, I guess I'm going to play around the field just a bit, so everyone could be acquainted with a few of the characters. It'll happen a lot in this story, but anyway _here's your sign!_ Fifth chapter! Have a good read!

Chapter Five

**Rock Paper Scissors Fireball**

The sunny afternoon was nice, calm, and the buzzing sounds of moaning and sensuous encouragements came off the television while the three blushing boys gawked at the television, watching the latest hot steamy action of a pornographic tape. The forbidden girl-on-girl action was being played behind the door of the Main Office in the prestigious Konoha High, concealed in the Head of School's own office, through the walls of learning and education, if someone as nosy as a few of the kids who worked for the secretaries were to press their ears against the thick door, then yes, you would know that four people and an animal was breaking more than fifty school laws in that one office.

"HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! Oh my, my! Pretty girl! _Hehe!_" Jiraiya made kissy noises and squeaky giggles into the phone voice receiver, while he just kept doodling nude pictures of women on his notepad instead of actually doing his work. He was dressed in his black pin-striped fire truck red suit, with the black clothed buttons, black button-down shirt, and a sassy shiny white tie. His face was contorted into the blushes and nosebleeds when he talked into the dirty calls, he needed this for his 'information gathering' and already taking more five pages of good—great notes for his next book.

While Kiba and Naruto were imagining about the girls in their drooling state, Haku followed his wide eyes away when a girl screamed in the television after being hit with the special white light and saw a piano outside of the office. He opened the door, and lift up the cover. He grimaced when he saw the light dust that covered the pretty keys. He swiped a tissue from his pants pocket and swept it across the board, cleaning it thoroughly.

"Ah, this porn's getting boring," Naruto snorted, turning off the television with the flick of his remote.

"I know, I hate when they try tell stories—I mean, why can't they just show the hot action?" Kiba picked up his blue backpack off the carpet floor concealing a small sleeping Akamaru and pulled it over his shoulder. He looked around, "Hey where's Haku?"

Sure he seen the shiny brown piano before, and even played with it, but looking enviously at it he had missed his electric keyboards after it broke down from overheating an outlet in his father's garage, he sat down on the bench he pulled out. He played with the keys a bit, a soft but firm pounding of tunes came about as he tried to see which sounded better.

"What the heck is he doing?" Naruto stepped out Ero-Sennin's office with the dog boy, revealing the intensity in Haku's brown eyes as he played an old piece of music while he murmured the lyrics.

"…_leave the world far behind, take me high to your paradise_…" his green-manicured fingers glided through the keyboard, fluttering his short nails against the wooden black and white keys, "…_you are the one I love, you are the one I need, you are the only one in my heart…baby come save me…bum, bum, da, ba…you're the only one in _'something', something, something…_then_—something—_bum ba dum ba da_—something again…"

"God, you're ruining the classics, Haku," Naruto snorted, watching the tall boy play the piano in the principal's office, "Geez, play something else, I'm going to have the lyrics in my head to the next classes…"

"Fine…" Haku folded his fingers together and stretched out the knuckles with sickening crackles.

He tapped his nimble chin in concentration, "What to play, what to play…"

"How about not playing anything at all…?" Kiba grinned, his small fangs showing.

Haku tossed his braided hair back, with a scowl, "_Humph!_ What do you women know about music anyway?"

"HEY! I AM NOT A WOMAN YOU STUPID PUSSY!" Kiba barked, quickly rolling up his sleeve to his broad shoulder and washing his hand over the lean muscles, "Check out the babies man! I'm buff! I have arm hair! Don't tell me I'm at all womanish because I'm not the one wearing makeup!"

He struck an accusing finger at Haku's face with obvious scrawls of lipstick, eye shadow, and blush.

"What's your problem? I look good in makeup!" Haku patted his cheek with fondness, then narrowed his eyes at Kiba, "I can bet million bazillion dollars that you conceal your fat belly underneath that jacket, fatty!"

"I'm not even close to the size of Chouji!" Kiba threw off his navy jacket, lifting up his shirt, "I got nothing to hide!"

"_Pfft!_" Haku stood up, unbuttoning his white school shirt, "You call that tub of lard your stomach! Check out my abs man! You can't find a washboard stomach like mine!" He smacked the bare pale flesh with his manicured hand, tracing the lines of well-formed muscles, "I as hell ain't even close to the womanish level as you, _Miss Kiba!_"

"MISS KIBA? The only one here with a girly name is yours _Madame Haku!_"

"Hey! That is an offense to my gender, young lady!"

"YOUNG LADY? _Wanna play?_ Let's play!"

"Is that what you say to your mother last night, Kiba-chan?"

"_Pshh!_ Better than me getting rocked in the ass every night, man whore!"

Haku growled, flexing his fingers, "Bah! Madame Haku is mad at you now _Princess!_"

"Princess? PRINCESS MY ASS!"

"Is that what you named your flat tires TUBBY?"

"You're calling me 'tubby' now? _Aw_…you'll gonna get it now, Piss Pants!"

"Sure thing Princess Kiba-chan!"

Naruto sweat-dropped at the two idiots, one comeback becoming more and more ridiculous when all the guys were just all talk and no action. He was wondering where Sakura-chan was, since she had been sitting with him and his friends for lunch ever since she came to the school on Monday after spring break.

"God…where is she?" he looked at his watch.

_SMACK!_

Naruto decided to discard that thought when a shirt was thrown to his face. He was met with a sweat tainted fabric which smelled more like gym socks than anything in the world. His face grew red. He was regretting ever influencing the two retards with his own exclusive unusual behavior, especially they were just being pathetic and making him look bad.

"My legs are way better than your hairy limp noodles!" Haku challenged, already topless and currently unzipping his pants.

"My ass is a lot firmer than your saggy ball sack!" Kiba too was discarding his slacks.

(_Eye twitch!_)

"YOU'RE BOTH DUMBASSES!" Naruto cried, smacking them both on the heads when they began to undress more of themselves to prove their masculine qualities.

Jiraiya made teensy giggly voices in the phone with a huge perverted grin and large goo-goo eyes, hanging up the phone after an hour of talking to some young hot girl on the 'special' adult phone company. He neatly paper clipped his half a dozen papers, and snapping them into his three-spiraled black binder. He quickly opened his front desk drawers, and pulled out his trusty peeping telescope and looked out with it in the blinded window.

He cocked his brow, moving the lens from his eye, "Hey Naruto, isn't that Tsunade's cute daughter?"

* * *

"Hey? Is this seat taken?"

Hinata nearly dropped her book when she heard someone ask that. She moved down the book so the person could only see her frightened bashful white eyes, and her face turned crimson. She tried to snap out of it, this wasn't happening to her, it was fictional and just a piece of her imagination.

She looked up to see two eyes of pure green, closely lined with the fabric of a gray ski cap. Hinata smiled softly to herself, actually remembering this girl. She sighed, wishing it were Naruto-kun instead. Not that she didn't like the girl, it was just that she wanted to sit next to the mustard-haired boy ever since middle school. Of course she remembered her. It was the new girl that everyone had been talking for the last three school days. _What is she doing here?_ Hinata had considered her nice and very kindhearted if she wanted to sit with _her_.

"W-Why?" she piped, nearly squeaking.

"Huh?" Sakura looked at her, blinking, "They're not enough seats around here. Are you saving this table for someone?"

_Naruto-kun_, "N-No," she stuttered, hating herself for that, "Y-You c-can sit d-down i-if you w-want…"

The smaller girl watched a slow smile spread across the girl's face, Hinata was actually surprised when a person chose to sit with her. She had seen her leave the popular table without actually standing anymore than a yard from it. Unless…this was a hoax—

"Why d-do y-you want to sit next t-to me?" Hinata asked tersely, dreading the answer. She had been through this for so long, it wasn't even funny anymore. Girls and guys made bets with each other to sit in the nerdy section of the field, mostly choosing the mousy girl who always sat by herself with a book pressed up to her nose. Hinata would kill herself right now if she knew what the answer Sakura was going to say.

But all she did was shrug, "I didn't want to sit next to a bunch of people I don't even care about."

She then opened up her milk carton and poked a red straw through it, and began a process of digging her macaroni with a plastic fork like a shovel through dirt. Hinata stared incredulously at her, her book slipping from her pale fingers.

"Do you want that apple? My orange looks a little moldy," Sakura smiled, twirling the small orange fruit in her hand.

"N-No, y-you can have i-it," Hinata murmured, her eyes was still wide open.

"Hey, ladies! Mind if we join you?" and the face the navy-haired girl thought she would never see so up close, Sabaku Temari glided her way with two other girls behind her, Yamanaka Ino and Mitarashi Tenten, in all their glory and power. Hinata's wide white eyes swept through their bodies as if she was imagining again, and making sure it was real.

Sakura looked a little surprised too, "I thought you guys were—"

"Well, when you left me there, you left me no choice," Ino grinned, her glossy lips smirked, "Besides I promised you, didn't I?"

"No, not exactly," her brows crossed slightly, "All you said that you were meeting me for lunch with you and your friends—"

"That's what I meant!" the blonde giggled, placing her tray on the table and glanced lightly at Hinata, "Hinata-chan is my friend too, also…but I never know why she persisted to sitting alone here…" Hinata fidgeted, seeing that she herself had many connections with the 'cool' people since she was related to one of them, but never really wanting to see with them because of a certain boy who was far from being popular…

Tenten raised her brow when she saw Hinata go into a trance, "Uh, hey, we can sit here can we? Unless you guys are saving—"

"N-No!" Hinata squeaked, slightly desperate for more company, "T-There's enough s-space—"

"Oh thank goodness!" Temari laughed, sitting bunched up next to the petite girl, "My feet were killing me! Maybe I should stop wearing these shoes," she moved her feet on the grass for the others to see, showing off her periwinkle blue platforms, "No wonder I have bruises in my toes…" she cooed thoughtfully.

"I didn't know you could wear platforms to school," the green-eyed girl blinked.

"Well it _was_ the school rules, but Jiraiya-sama never made a federal case out of it so he lets people any kind of shoe. Um, except if any school guests come to Konoha grounds," Temari grinned, tapping her chin, "Now you got me thinking about it, maybe I should come to school in a sexy halter dress, I wonder what the old man would do next…"

Sakura smiled lightly when Ino sat next to her with a giggling Tenten.

"HEY SAKURA-CHAN!"

The navy-haired girl could have bet at any second right then and there, the boy of her dreams had turned to their direction and walked closer and closer to her. Well, even if he said another girl's name, it didn't matter. She could have thrown that disappointment out of the window if he would come and stand near her, for her to count all the yellow hairs on the back of his neck—her breath hitched, he was! HE WAS! _HE'S COMING TOWARDS THEM!_ Her cheeks grew hotter, her white eyes were shaking and that lump in her throat had grown bigger and bigger with every step he took. Oh, god let her die now if he passes her table! The moment she could let her eyes blink from all that staring at the blond hunk who walked up to the table with a lunch tray, and with Haku and Kiba right behind him, she knew she had to be really dreaming. Hinata fiercely pinched herself on the arm, red marks appeared on the tender skin of her wrist.

"Where were you, Sakura? We were waiting for you in Ero-Sennin's office," Naruto asked, walking in between the new girl and a blushing Hinata.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I kind of forgot," Sakura apologized, gesturing to Ino who was sipping from her milk carton, "Ino-san invited me to lunch with her and her friends." Naruto nodded and grinned foxily.

"Ohayo Sakura-kun! 'Noon Ladies!" Haku grinned, his silver lips curling with the pink blush on his cheeks. Kiba waved at Ino, who glared playfully at him. Tenten made long-drawn 'aw' sounds when Akamaru jumped up to her lap, and began to nuzzle his wet nose against her flat stomach.

"He's so cute!" she squealed, petting his white head politely.

Temari smirked at the sight of the dobe, "Probably the first time I see you out here! I thought you always had detention with ol' man Jiraiya-sama, Naruto!"

"Nah! I always eat lunch in his office, he's stock with the latest porn," before Naruto could speak more, he noticed he was standing over a timid Hinata, "Eh? Hinata-san?" She jumped to his voice, "I didn't know you were friends with Sakura-chan."

_He called me 'Hinata-san' instead of plain old 'Hinata!'_ Hinata was literally shivering with excitement, twiddling her thumbs nervously as she tried to . Sakura grinned, "Of course she is! I think she's a really nice person!"

"Oh? Cool!" He smiled down on her, "So do I!"

Hinata bit her lip from throwing herself on top of the table and doing the 'Hip! Hip! Hooray!' Dance in front of everyone in the field. Hats, fireworks, and everything. She crossed her feet together, and began to poking her index fingers.

"T-Thank y-you, N-Naru-t-to-k-kun…" she whispered bashfully.

"Yo, Hinata-chan!" Kiba cried, pointing to a specific item on her tray, "You want your pudding?"

"I-I—um," Hinata blushed, when she felt more of the beloved sapphire eyes on her, looking at the shape of her slender pale neck and the short curls of her navy hair. Well if he's just looking at her because Kiba asked for her pudding, his beautiful eyes was still looking at her, paying attention to her every moment. She nervously lifted up her small chocolate pudding cup with her two nimble hands, her nails against the plastic while she handed it to Kiba before—

"Hey! I want her pudding too!" Naruto snarled, grinning. Hinata eagerly darted her cup to the blonde, her white eyes were glimmering like polished marble and her face glowed pink. If he wanted pudding, she would be able to give it to him.

"Hell I'll share with you! I like my pudding!" Kiba sniped at him.

Hinata looked alarmed and struggled to not to hand it over to the dog boy.

"But I like pudding too!"

Hinata almost whacked the cup across Naruto's face.

"Gah, this can't work…" Kiba snorted, scratching the back of his neck.

Hinata pushed the pudding closer to Naruto's unmoving face like an offering, but his eyes were on the dog guy instead.

"Well, we obviously can't share…" Naruto pointed out, "How do we decide how who gets the pudding?"

"Hey! Nobody even considers if I wanted the cup!" Temari stood up with her hands on her hip.

"Because nobody cares—" The older blonde's jaw dropped, Kiba turned back to Naruto, "—I say we race for it."

"Nah, I don't want get sweaty…" the flaxen boy ran his hand soothingly through his messy yellow locks, so slowly Hinata's heart raced with each finger that glide over each hair so contently.

"What about Rock Paper Scissors?" Tenten piped, Akamaru barked agreeably on her lap.

"We're not in kindergarten!" Kiba barked, "I'd say we had a blinking contest—"

"That's bad for your eyes!" Haku cried, fluttering his eyelashes. Naruto looked at each person.

"You know, Tenten's idea sounds like good idea," Naruto took out his hand, the group could see a glow-in-dark smiley patterned bandage around his little flickering finger. Sakura and Ino grinned.

Kiba rolled his eyes, putting out his hand, "Fine, we'll play one-on-one—"

"I want the pudding too! They ran out at the cafeteria line!" Temari exclaimed, anxiously outstretching her hand.

"Me too!" Tenten did the same, "It's free food, isn't it?"

"I didn't eat lunch!" Ino raised her arm out, too.

"You have lunch!" Kiba yelped, pointing at the tray in front of her.

A careless shrug, "When would you ever play Rock Paper Scissors this time of age?" Ino asked, bringing some good insight, "Besides I like _chocolate_."

"She's right! Count me in!" Haku held out his green-manicured fingers, and glanced at Sakura, "You want to play? I mean, its 'pudding'…" He playfully emphasized a great deal to the dessert cup with sparkly brown eyes.

Sakura chuckled and stood up over the table with the others, raising out her hand too, "Okay, whoever wins this game—"

"It's not a game!" Naruto interrupted, bellowing out. He pounded his peacock-puffed chest, "It's a manly sport!"

"MANLY?" Temari, Tenten, and Ino hollered disbelievingly.

Naruto tossed back his head, replying nonchalantly, "No use neglecting."

Sakura laughed, "Alright, alright, whoever just wins this 'sport', gets Hinata-san's pudding."

Hinata had taken amusement in this game, but she wanted to give the pudding to Naruto. She held the cup close to herself diffidently with a trembling smile on her lips. She really hadn't had this much of a company since today.

* * *

Other tables had taken interest in the ongoing of the faraway table underneath the beech tree, whispering to the other occupants when the seven people had stood up with their arms pointing to each other's curled knuckles, in a stance you see on television shows where this much cartoon heroes who hold out almost like matching powerful plastic cereal box rings you'd find off toy shops. Some giggled, watching this entertainment. Some rolled their eyes, possibly too mature for this joke. Only certain people had looked at them with curious eyes and had surely not have expected this from fellow students. Hyuuga Neji blinked, he was clearly confused though he didn't show it. Through the years of always avoiding the alien crowd and sitting with popular people almost all his life, he never would have thought he'd see the two clichés clash together.

He glanced at Rock Lee who was smiling, his big round eyes were looking at the seven people with fascination. He than noticed that everyone's head was turned and they leaned closer to each other with hushed voices, a few girls had their eyes narrowed with annoyance while some guys were grimacing at the sight of Uzumaki Naruto. Neji had also realized that even the school bastard Uchiha Sasuke, had looked up (while ignoring the surrounding group of fan girls) and stared emotionlessly at mixed crowd.

_Idiots._ A frown twitched on his pale lips, Neji picked up his empty tray and left the field.

* * *

He was gathered by the rest of the basketball team, before one of the teammates could have finished explaining the sketched out game plan that Gai-sensei, his coach, had planned out, the other guys had heard some whistles and looked to see something faraway while squinting their eyes. Sasuke looked at the table from across the grass patch, with narrowed onyx eyes. His long raven bangs had flown in front his face as he hunched his shoulders. Since no one, especially the author, couldn't interpret what went on in Uchiha Sasuke's head, she decided to skip the poor bastard and move onto the pudding dueling game.

* * *

With the long flicks of their elbows and wrists, the seven chosen ones moved their arms moved to their voices, "Rock. Paper. Scissors."

Temari and Haku held out their flat 'paper' palms, Tenten and Kiba had out their 'rock' fists, and Ino and Sakura raised their 'scissor' hands. While they looked down they saw Naruto's hand was faced palm up but his fingers were pointed squiggling and waving. He had on a large shit-eating grin.

"I win!" Naruto proclaimed, making his greedy hands to the pudding cup in Hinata's fingers.

Ino slapped away his hand, "Get away from the prize!"

"No you didn't!" Kiba yelped, bonking his head, "What the hell is _that?_"

"Of course I won!" Naruto rubbed his anime bruise, waving his fingers again, "I used 'fireball!'" he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Nothing can beat it!"

"Oh yeah? Can it beat 'water balloon?'" Tenten exclaimed, holding her fist over his wavy fingers and made the sound of water splashing, snapping out her fingers as the balloon had popped, "_Pshhhhh!_" and sprinkled her slender hand like rain drops on the extinguished fireball.

"Aw!" Naruto groaned and nodded to the grinning brunette, "Good play."

Tenten beamed.

"That's fucking stupid!" Temari scoffed, "Can we please play the right way?"

"Hmm…I think I'm going to back out," Sakura announced, smiling nervously, "My lunch is kind of cold now…"

"Yeah…" Ino said exasperated, "I already have a pudding," she lifted up a vanilla cup from her tray.

"Yes, chocolate is bad for your arteries," Haku recommended, "Have a nice time playing for delicious heart-killing sin food, guys!" he smiled encouragingly. Tenten shook her head and petted Akamaru over the head, when the last three turned to her.

"THEN WHY DID YOU GUYS PLAY IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Kiba breathed volcanic fire of annoyance.

Temari glared, and held out her hand again to the other boys, "Fine, we'll play without them! But this time no fireball or water balloon…or anything stupid!" she shot a three-dimensional glower in Naruto's direction who just chuckled coyly.

"Alright then!" Kiba howled, their fists moving to the rhythm, "Rock. Paper. Scissors."

In that moment, the dog boy and Temari both held out their pairs of shiny scissors, their grins gleaming on their face when they saw that Naruto had an unlucky 'paper' hand. And in a change of events, in a flash the mustard-color haired boy snatched the pudding from Hinata's nervous sweaty hands, peeling off the lid.

The two gawked at him, and jumped right on top of him, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? IT WAS ROCK!"

Naruto coughed into his hand, "Water rusts scissors, so it crumbles and breaks. And you use paper to pick it up."

Sakura snorted in her macaroni.

"WHAT?" Kiba roar flabbergasted, Akamaru growled.

"I told you not to try anything stupid!" Temari bitched, ringing around his neck in a headlock.

"I didn't try to do anything _stupid_," Naruto spat out the last word, and poked his head, "You need brains to figure that logic out." He turned his head from around her tight arms to Temari, looking directly at her—"You have nice breasts by the way."

And in a dash both Kiba and Temari chased him all over the field and cafeteria in a wild cat and mouse, jumping over tables and played hopscotch over people's heads causing everyone to laugh and point at them, encouraging Naruto along as he smacked his lips and ate his chocolate pudding. Tenten had let go of Akamaru accidentally to cheer them off with Ino, so the white dog chased the three around. Sakura whooped with Ino, leaving a blushing stuttering Hinata. She touched her fingers against her cheek, her eyes glowing.

"He's eating my pudding…" she blushed, embarrassingly.

**To Be Continued**

_Ah, childhood games. You got to love them, then hate them and call them stupid, then love them again. Thank you for reviewing!_

_I couldn't resist but use that Sierra Mist commercial Rock Paper Scissor logic. I thought it was too funny. _


	6. Exploding Jawbreaker

**Disclaimer:** Pumpkin, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** I always liked the television show _Mythbusters_, so I decided to dedicate this chapter to the Mythbusters Adam and Jamie by writing an inspirational chapter about their episodes in their experiments. You guys rock! This chapter is just from my experience with television and a certain classroom accident but you should all read into this. SIXTH UPDATE! ALL HAIL! Uh, well, enjoy.

Chapter Six

**Exploding Jawbreaker**

Just after lunch, just right after Naruto had been one-handedly pissed off both his friend Kiba (and his mutt) and the notorious Temari in a childhood game, and had also excited the entire cafeteria and grass field to watch in a cheering audience, the clichés aside, to see him being run down in a wild cat and mouse chase while eating his chocolate pudding. Yes, it was sight for sore eyes, though some people wonder how you could see through 'sore eyes' and it indeed took the new girl's caretaker and the dean, Tsunade to run amok and whack the poor blonde across the face for punishment for making people sneeze out milk from their nostrils before the Sabaku girl could wring her neatly polished nails on his pretty neck. And those two had detention after school which caused Temari to be aghast and had made a bored Naruto to shrug. And when Kiba tried walking away from trouble, Tsunade had spotted Akamaru in his backpack. (Dogs aren't allowed in school)

And _he_ had detention.

Fifth Period, when the bell rang, was _History_ where Sarutobi Asuma was teaching. He was a tall bulky man with a beard and dressed in a thick suit had taught about the most boring class in the entire school. Though the man wasn't clearly boring, but the subject was. And since a teacher was supposed to make his or her class fun, he had escalated to a great deal to do so. For beginners, his class was always cold because he liked to smoke his cancer sticks in his room when he's grading homework, so keeping the windows open to clear out that awful-smelling foul air the students were always shivering and chattering their teeth. Textbooks weren't dusty, so when opening up the books the dusty layer of powder wouldn't make a student sneeze, watery-eyed, and most importantly, them falling asleep and that would actually make them pay attention.

"Takahana Teruki," he called out, right after he explained something.

"Y-Yes?" the poor kid in the middle row had snapped out of his trance.

"What's the answer to number thirty-four?" Asuma barked.

The Teruki boy looked at his textbook and came back with an incredulous look, "Uh-I—"

"Wrong, twenty points off," Asuma scribbled in his grade book, the boy was mortified.

And in one of his most entertaining daily routines, he would call on any random student to answer any question and if they were get it wrong, he take away (what every straight 'A' student dreads) about half of their participation grade (even though some of the students weren't participating) and then select another unwilling student to answer. And only Nara Shikamaru was able to wake up from sleeping in his class and answer the rash questions correctly. Rumored by many students, when Asuma had come to two very close percentages of grades in a student's grades, he would grade lower than he's supposed to, then smile like a maniac when his students tried to study harder and harder to keep up in his class.

Trying not to get on his blacklist, Sakura rubbed her tired eyes on her first night after school, trying to read the second sentence of the history book, but always revert her attention to the first sentence, then be frustrated and read the second line again but later woke up with her head on her desktop, drool on her pink lips and her hair in a disarray around her ski cap.

Sixth Period was _Science_, the last class, taught by the newest teacher in the homely Konoha High, Shizume-sensei after the last educator was fired by the school board after being caught inhaling some good white pony behind the teacher's parking lot. And since she was the new teacher, the students of the homely Konoha High decided to show her what it means to be teaching in a classroom full of retards.

The many mentioned people in the last chapter, with more of the other students, were crammed into a single large classroom where they sat around in laboratory tables, complete with sinks, a container full of sharpened number two pencils, a stack of binder paper, clipboards, heavy-duty textbooks, a small microwave at the corner, and test tubes on trays, and many, many more of these confusing science stuff. The four rectangular walls were blindingly white with beige draped windows, large black chalkboards, gray metal cabinets, posters, and pictures of students in lab coats and goggles. And with these, almost the entire white room was cornered by steel counters which microscopes, more sinks, and other bells and whistles were placed neatly.

A tall white skeleton, with a bony smile for a mouth, stood on a stand in the front of the room where the teacher sat near by her clean swept desk. When students began to file in, they had taken in the picture of a tall elegant woman—"Why does our school have so many hot teachers who we can't date?" Haku asked thoughtfully—with short raven hair and round black eyes hidden behind her rectangular wire spectacles, and adorned in a long sweeping white lab coat over her professional indigo suit outfit and was writing on the board with a piece of long chalk.

One the first day of school when Shizume-sensei had spotted her favorite girl walk in, she smiled at the hat-wearing female who widened her eyes at the sight at one of her caretakers. Sakura quickly walked to her instead of her seat where Naruto had saved for her, and clutched her books closer to her chest.

"You're one of my teachers?" the new girl voiced quietly, Shizume stood stilly with a small smile, "Wouldn't that be weird?" she asked embarrassingly.

The raven-haired woman glanced her nonchalantly, "Well, if its any weirder being gossiped about by many of the student body."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Sakura blinked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Shizume smirked, gesturing behind her back, "You're talking to a teacher."

And when the green-eyed girl turned around, she had seen more than half of the class looked at her with confused looks. Then they again turned to each other in hushed voices, their eyes still on her, but the science teacher was right all along. Sakura bit her lip and walked tersely to a table surrounded by the blond boy and his friends.

But the third day of school, after the Rock Paper Scissors lunch hour and Asuma's mind-numbingly difficult class, Sakura was able to survive without having to look away from other students and having to clung closely to her childhood friend Naruto for security, but instead she and Hinata had been invited by Yamanaka Ino to sit with her and Temari. Though some of the more nameless girls were a little envious by their good luck, the poor girl Hinata was absolutely overjoyed when Uzumaki Naruto-kun, Kiba, and Haku sat with them while gibbering nonstop about the old commercial cartoons. Tenten had situated herself with Rock Lee and Neji in a lab table next to Aburame Shino, Zaku Abumi and the two school reporters Kin Tsuchi and Dosu Kinuta. Uchiha Sasuke had sat himself with some of the basketball players Yakushi Kabuto, Kimimaro, and Kidoumaru, the identical twins Ukon and Sakon who were listening to the punk Tayuya, who was swearing off about Jiroubou, who wasn't in the class. Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji had sat with Akadou Yoroi, Sigure, Sabaku Kankuro and his younger brooding brother Gaara. Then many other tables of other students had surrounded the entire white classroom, all who were chattering about what happened at lunch, in the mall, about another kid's girlfriend, or what the teacher had planned for today.

"Okay, class," Shizume placed the piece of chalk on the chalkboard holder, looking up with a warm smile, "Yesterday, I had mentioned before class had ended to everyone that since it's the last semester grading period before the seniors are let out—"

"WOO! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Naruto cheered and whooped, with his fist pumping into the air. Many of the students continued to be celebrating after that, bringing a bigger smile on the raven-haired woman's face.

"Yes, and I had decided that instead of giving out end-of-the-year exams for every student," everyone's voices were hushed, "I want everyone to put on an experiment—", then after that, a full blow of exhilarated groans and moans went around. Ino slammed her head on the table while Kiba's pencil snapped in his fingers, "—which would expand over the next months, that would challenge everyone into becoming scientists themselves. One project per month, and everyone only has three more months left. So everyone must turn in three projects. You have to present it each orally with your selected team in front of the class and your entire research is to be typed in a five page report handed to me separately."

It was a complete silence, until the first to crack was Naruto.

"_WHAT!_" he screamed, his anime eyes were wide and round.

"We have to work with _other_ people!" Tayuya barked, "I'm not working with no dumbasses!"

"O-Orally…? I-In front o-of o-other p-p-people…?" Hinata whispered, absolutely devastated.

"_WHAT!_" Naruto yelled again.

"What about the school play!" Kankuro shout incredulously.

"But we have the plan for the Senior Prom!" one girl cried, who was a coordinator for the school dances.

"But I don't want to do it!"

"I have to get my driver's permit!"

"The Konoha Burning Leaves beach festival is in four weeks!"

"I have a job!" Kin bawled.

"Me too!" Dosu's cry had followed by.

"The girl's basketball team!" Tenten yelled, "I'm the captain this year!"

"_WHAT!_" was Naruto, yes.

"That's unbelievable!" Temari bellowed, "I have to bring up my grades in other classes!"

"One for each month! That'll be three projects!" one exclaimed.

"The entire research! Five pages!"

"This is even harder than exams!"

"_WHAT!_" Naruto cried, but Kiba bonked him hard on the head.

"Goddamn it! SHUT UP!" the dog boy yelled.

"A project…?" Kimimaro grimaced, "What about the regionals? That would have to shorten our training and—"

"I'm sorry, but everyone has to do this," Shizume looked skeptically around the classroom, "It doesn't matter whether you're in a sports team or have a job, or have to plan any school event, or even has an incapacity of teamwork," she looked at a muttering Tayuya, "That does not grant anyone any special favors. I will choose your teams tomorrow, and you're to be acquainted with one another, then on Friday I'll hand your paperwork and how to start on it. So please grant me the time of day right now to give everyone an example of what kind of projects you're be doing. And this whole process will be repeated in the next two months."

The entire class watched her walk into her back room, through the large gray door, and brought out a large box with stacks of printed newspaper clippings, scientific tools, glass containers, folded aprons, oven mitts, latex gloves, more goggles, and what seemed to be like a giant plastic bag of giant jawbreakers, all in different colors but the same sizable spheres. Shizume propped all the junk on her desktop, swiping a clump of bangs from her face and looked confidently at the class.

"I know I'm being unfair to everyone about the projects," the young woman heard murmured agreements around the classroom, almost everyone's eyes were reverted away, "I know some of you would be thinking how boring it would be if I had everyone research about bugs—" Shino frowned slightly, "—so I decided to give you _this_ subject of the month's experiment."

She picked up the bag of jawbreakers in her hand, the clutching of plastic was heard throughout the room, "_Candy_."

"Candy?" everyone voiced out, confusion marred their faces.

"Candy," Shizume confirmed, smiling, "In this project, you have to find ways to experiment with candy. I had read on the news—well, I'm sure you all did—that several case scenarios had involved around broken jaws and cavities, with candy. I know it may sound ridiculous, but I want everyone to experiment with candy. So with some tools, and several jawbreakers per table I'd like everyone to wear the proper lab clothing and split open a jawbreaker so we may see the colorful layers of sugar coating. Then I'll explain everything next. So two people from each table, please stand up and get the needed equipment."

"Wait, Shizume-sensei," Haku raised his/her hand.

"Yes, Haku?"

"Are we allowed to eat the jawbreakers?"

Shizume looked at him/her weirdly, "…um, sure…but after class, you may." Haku pumped his/her fist.

When Ino left to get their crap, Temari aggravatingly snorted causing her good looks to mix with fury and rage.

"I cannot believe I have to do this!" the older blonde clapped her hands on her bare thighs, "I'm already in deep shit with Ebisu-sensei and Kurenai-sensei is already on my ass about the progress of my test grades! I have detention for the week! And the cheerleading squad had picked me as the new co-captain! I can't deal with so much pressure!" She buried her face in her open text book.

"O-Oh…" Hinata murmured, feeling sympathetic for her and made a future note to herself not to tell Temari about her excellent grades.

Kiba had on a predatory grin, "Kurenai-sensei, eh? She's one live hotwire."

Sakura blushed, upon hearing that.

"_Eww_," Haku kissed his/her teeth, "You actually have wet dreams about her?"

"I never said _that!_" Kiba cried, Akamaru barked cutely.

Naruto laughed, "You actually have the Closet Pervert as your teacher? Man, Konohamaru had told me so many stories—"

"The freshman?" Temari grimaced, "I didn't think any senior hung out with a freshman."

"Well, we used to be like them didn't we?" the Uzumaki opened up one of his notebooks, and began to scribble in it, "We were stupid, dumb, and retarded. I'm sure we were also needy and always trying to impress the teachers and the older kids. We have to deal with hormones and sex—unless, you know, we already had sex—and then bigger bullies come along and pull Freshman Friday on them—" he choked in his laughter, "—now that was fun!" He high-five with Kiba, who grinned too.

Temari rolled her cerulean eyes at them, "_Morons._"

Haku tapped his/her mechanic pencil against the table, "I don't know…" everyone at the table turned to him/her, "…right now, I'll be worrying about this project shit…I mean, who are we going to be grouped up with? I don't even want to come two feet next to Nara Shikamaru, he'll make you do everything despite whether or not he's a genius."

Sakura widened her eyes, "A genius? But I thought he was some lazy—"

"A lazy genius," Temari whispered, grunting with a smirk.

Naruto nodded, "I hate to be teamed up with Thickbrows…I mean he'd be cheering you off like a crazy freak if you're a little behind, then boost up your confidence by talking about how great Gai-sensei is and how youth is with all kinds of other rainbow crap."

"Ouch, that's harsh," Kiba whispered, straightening up his posture, "Eh, I can tell you I wouldn't like to work with Uchiha Sasuke, I mean that bastard is one jackass—"

"Wait, how can he be both a bastard and a jackass?" Haku asked, his/her green-nailed finger tapping on his/her chin.

Everyone sweatdropped, except for Sakura who was clearly confused.

"Who's Uchiha Sasuke?" she asked innocently, causing everyone to snap their eyes on her.

"_Who's Uchiha Sasuke_…?" Temari repeated, blinking, "I thought you knew."

"I knew what?" Sakura replied back, her brows knitting together.

"Now that's the question of the century," Kiba snickered.

Naruto wiped a sweat from his brow, "Aw, man, if Ino heard that one."

"If I heard what?" Ino questioned, dropping all the equipment on the lab table, "Here's the stuff. What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing…" Haku trailed on, leaving the platinum blonde to snort.

Ino glared slightly, looking at everyone suspiciously at the table, "No, come on, tell me what I won't want to hear."

"That cheerleaders were stupid empty-headed idiots who play no real role in life," Haku spoke before anyone could stop him/her.

"What!" both Temari and Ino exclaimed outrageously, "That's not true!"

"That's why you won't want to hear it," Ino's mouth popped open, Haku picked up the giant round candy balls into his/her palm, "Aw cool! Jawbreakers! I haven't seen them this big since I was five when I accidentally broke a tooth trying to eat one this big, even when my dad told me it was too big, but I did it anyway because of my childish inferiors. And I had to stop biting into them because I became interested in trying to find out how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie center of a Tootsie Pop. But this is huge!" The signature brown eyes had sparkled.

His/her tablemates looked at him with heads dotted with sweat drops bigger than the jawbreakers.

During the next fifteen minutes when everyone had to put on their lab clothing, making Sakura look ridiculous when she pulled the goggle straps over the back of her ski cap and fix the dark yellow plastic cover over her eyes, which Kiba had said that it had made her green eyes look a florescent turquoise, then being complimented by people from other tables for her colorful eyes even though she never thought of them as very pretty or attractive. She then had spotted the redhead Tayuya looking at her with mean eyes, and cringed at the sight of her analytical brown eyes.

Ino complained jokily how the goggles kept cutting into around her face like a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Sakura slipped into the apron and overheard Haku asking Temari if the gray apron made him/her look fat. Hinata blushed infinitely when Naruto asked her to tie up the ribbons of his apron, her fingers brushed ever so slightly against his lean back when she tried to tie it but couldn't really when her fingers kept shaking. Then the poor girl had almost fainted when Naruto wanted her to be his partner for the jawbreaker experiment. Across the room, Tenten had joked about the transparent lens of the goggles that Lee wore made his eyebrows and eyes look bigger, larger, darker, and rounder.

Everyone was in a good mood and begun to heat up the jawbreakers in the small microwave at a certain amount of short minutes, making the sugars soft enough to cut through. Ino and Sakura measured the soft candy, finding the right spot to cut through for the perfect halves. Temari, who worked alone and preferred it that way, had sliced her candy in perfection with a smirk on her face seeing two halves of colorful slightly hard layers of sweet concoctions. Naruto had accidentally and unconsciously sometimes brushed his gloved fingers over Hinata's hand to get something across the table without him noticing, causing Hinata to heat up like the microwave jawbreaker.

Now at the table, while Shizume was talking to another table and nobody was really paying attention to those two, Haku and Kiba were the last to use the microwave. They placed a giant white jawbreaker angularly on a circular glass plate, inserting them in the golden light of the radiation box. They took them out and poked at them.

"Hmm…" Kiba took off his oven mittens, "I don't think the candy is soft enough."

"Really? Maybe we should heat it up again…"

And the two boys slipped onto their oven mittens and pushed the glass plate of the jawbreaker into the microwave, and record the time up to two minutes. After it was done, they stared at the candy.

"Nope, it doesn't look like it molten even a little," Haku poked at it.

"Alright, let's do it again," Kiba slipped back the jawbreaker into the microwave.

And three minutes later, the glass plate was hot but the white jawbreaker was still the same.

"Hmm," Kiba looked at the jawbreaker from all around, "Still the same."

"Fine, put it back in," Haku pushed the container back into the microwave, putting it up on five more minutes.

And after that, when the two boys had looked off into space and instead looked at other projects and experiments, the microwave that held their white jawbreaker had exploded, erupting out their sugar chemicals, and fired up the outlet near the counter, destroying two other plug-ins and causing sparks to rain near a couple of the classmates' sleeves. Girls screamed and ran to another lab table, boys had freaked out and pushed against other people in the classroom. The first microwave had jumped and crashed down on the table top, burning the outside of the door and the jawbreaker within the gray box had lit up into fire and was literally blazing up the entire microwave. Hinata coughed and wheezed at the smell of smoke while Temari and Sakura had screamed with the other girls, Ino had pulled everyone back, Naruto tried to pour water from his plastic canteen on top but caused more sparks and the fire disastrously grew, and Haku and Kiba hurriedly blew off the flames with their breaths and puffs of warm air.

Shizume had rashly rushed up and sprayed off the fire extinguisher on the burning mass of electricity. When the kids in her class were still screaming and smoke still surrounded the room, the students had filed out of the laboratory with their loud voices awakening other teachers on the floor to run out and see the thick smoke peek from the new teacher's class, and to find Shizume walk out angrily in her lab coat and red extinguisher in one hand, pulling off her goggles in front of the mass of her students.

"Who in the world left their jawbreaker in the microwave for TEN minutes?" Shizume barked at the trembling students.

The occupants at the burning table had made facial smudges of smoke aftermaths and Hinata was still wheezing quite badly, who then was quickly escorted by Ino and Temari to the nurse's office. Naruto looked very worried and could have run after her but was held back by Sakura, when the female blondes had told her too for many reasons. Some of the girls from the classroom were frightened and tearing up. The guys grunted and were practically pissed off. Shizume had looked upon Haku and Kiba who were coughing themselves and quickly wiping off the dark smudges from their face.

"You two are very lucky that jawbreaker didn't explode into your faces," the raven-haired woman replied, her brows were increasingly low, "That would have caused fatal wounds from the chemical burns. Didn't you two listen AT ALL to my instructions to set the timer to two minutes besides complaining about your hair—" Haku gulped, "—or talking endlessly about one of the students being a 'jerk?'"

"It's, um, 'jackass' but we're go with your word…" Kiba whispered, his tail between his legs.

"We didn't think it molten enough for it to be cut in half," Haku murmured apologetically.

"The outside is suppose to be hard, but once you cut it you can see the insides had slightly melted. Why didn't you two ask me?"

"Because you were busy with other students," Kiba muttered.

"You two should have waited, I had to help other students."

"…we're still very sorry…" both the boys whispered.

Shizume was exhausted, "I hate doing this, but you two have detention. I'm sorry, but you should have listened to me."

The two guys had nodded, their eyes were looking down on the linoleum floor. The rest of students followed the movements of Shizume's body when she turned to all of them, "And that goes for every one of you. No matter how much you hate it, but when you're doing an experiment or any activity in my class, you have to listen to me. That's why I'm here. I'm here to do my job, to teach everyone about science, as well as keeping everyone safe, is that understood?"

"Yes…" they all murmured, Sakura looked sadly when everyone went back to the classroom.

**This Story **_Teenage Rhapsody _**is being discontinued**

_To my very loyal readers, and my very upset reviewers and flamers, through my years as a teenager and fanfiction enthusiast, I have been very dishonest to myself. It seems I had forced myself to do things I never wanted to do, and I am sure I am being very unfair to all the high school stories other people had written by doing one myself. This story had reached great lengths for me, and all I ever wanted was to write a story about ordinary people by mixing it with the fictional life of anime characters. But so far, it has not work as well I hoped. So I decided to take a new route. That being said, I am sorry to say I was just kidding and no, the story will not be discontinued because the author just wants everyone to hate her guts for pulling such a terrible and devastating prank on her readers. _


	7. Awkwardness of Family Reunions

**Disclaimer:** Sir or Madam, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** (Laughs) Now _that_ was fun, and I was quite entertained by everyone's reactions in their reviews. Sorry if I hurt anyone with the author's note prank. But I don't regret it. No one had ever done that, so I decided to be the first. But anyway, for an apology, here's an update! Um, well, that might have been expected, but just have a good read.

Chapter Seven

**Awkwardness of Family Reunions **

The entire classroom took a good look at the glass plate which held a giant white jawbreaker which was burned black and melting in a small puddle. The sugary wetness that surrounded the poor candy had almost made the microwave jawbreaker look like a rotten bird's egg with wisps of gray smoke matched that of stink gas. While their science teacher was making a call for the clean up and repairman, Haku and Kiba, the two troublemaking morons, bent over another lab table and poked the not so edible explosive with their gloved fingers, careful not to let it react devastatingly again.

"Well, it looks we can't eat it," Haku confirmed, lifting up the molten ball to the side.

"Affirmative," Kiba nodded, nuzzling over Akamaru's soft neck hair.

Temari slammed her forehead on the tabletop, "_You two are retards_," she muttered.

"You think?" the male blond directed the angry question to his friends, "You two scared the entire classroom and pissed off Onee-chan in a way I'd never seen her to be," Naruto growled, he was still a little worried about Hinata.

Haku ran his/her fingers through the long tendrils of his/her dark braid, moaning, "My dad is going to kill me for sure."

"Bah, my mom would beat me to death, then find some way to bring me back to life, and then beat me again," Kiba muttered, his fangs showed through the snarling lips. Sakura grimaced, knowing it was no place to laugh about this.

"I'm sure Shizume-sensei would be able to forgive the dumbasses," Ino whispered, folding her arms across her chest, "Too bad, we can't do our experiment. I was really into it."

"Yes, who would have thought a jawbreaker would turn into an explosive?" Temari murmured inwardly.

"I guess," Tenten agreed, who sat herself in their table when the class had filed in. She leaned in urgently, her voice lowered to get their attention, "You should have seen the other teachers who heard the explosion, though, and some of them were gossiping to one another about Shizume-sensei— I know she's a nice teacher, plus she's brand new to the staff, but I don't doubt some of the teachers are a little tipsy about her methods. I mean, they seen her let students sleep through her class, talking back to her, and one even ate ramen on her first day…"

She cast two skeptical brown eyes at a nervously grinning Naruto, scratching the back of his neck.

Ino rolled her eyes, "Well, Shikamaru always sleeps in his classes and some do it when lectures get boring, many dickheads talk back to teachers, and Naruto always eats ramen, so what how does change anything?"

The table looked back at the new teacher who stood around near the phone. Shizume frustratingly slammed back the gray phone on the receiver, and walked quickly out of the classroom when she wasn't able to get a hold on the janitor. The entire class began to murmur questionably until it the atmosphere had changed almost animatedly when the volume had pumped up, bringing everyone to talk loudly and throw crumpled paper balls and airplanes at each other, so there was no need for the others, in the second row near the window, to speak so low.

Haku fluttered his/her lashes in exasperation, "You're right,

Sakura tilted her head, letting her green eyes look over the ruined jawbreaker, "Hmm…we should go see Hinata-san…"

Everyone else at the table nodded simultaneously, waited eagerly for the bell to ring. After the class had ended, with quite a few of the students were anxious to leave, and only a small group of people went to visit Hinata in the nurse's office. Kiba had kept the microwave jawbreaker in a plastic zip-lock bag and swung it with his limp arms when he began to animatedly speak to both Naruto and Haku about the dumbest things. Temari hugged her arms around herself while she whispered to the girls, though Sakura wasn't exactly listening and just curling her limbs around her books closer to her chest as she stride in her white tennis shoes and itty bitty pleated maroon skirt.

Back and forth Naruto bitched with Ino, who both had proved to be very stubborn in their opinions, had walked quickly up to the green-eyed young woman. They struck fingers at each other, yelling at her for approval.

"He's wrong!"

"_She's_ wrong!"

And before she could say anymore, someone jabbed her painfully in the upper small of her back with the hard slap of their hand. The new girl could have almost hit herself silly on the edge of the beige lockers, making her eyes wide and her mouth open to let out a gasp. She spotted panicky of a dark shadow that covered her and where her head was short inches away from being smacked on the steel plate of the locker doors. The others looked and stared at the person behind her, then doubling back shocked when they saw who was really standing over Sakura.

Even the brash Naruto was struck dumb, cold sweat were making its way under his armpits.

The emerald-eyed girl twisted around hastily, looking into two tactical brown eyes looking on her with a stern mouth, a head covered with long red-orange hair and wearing a brown beanie that let only a clump of red bangs to show in between the scary eyes. The uniform was worn harshly, having buttons buttoned to the wrong holes and showed a large triangle of her white camisole underneath, with her red school tie wrapped tightly around her trim waist and blouse like a belt to the side, her pleated maroon skirt was pulled to her upper thighs and she worn skin tight biker black shorts to cover any unnecessary candid scenes.

Sakura had seen herself being dwelled in the likeness of dark and terror when she looked up into those frightening brown eyes, the sharp edges of the person's dark lashes had created a scary face when her tight-lipped mouth had snarled from impatience.

"_Girl!_ Stop harassing her!" one guy had called out, from a faraway corner of the hallway, "You're going to get into trouble!"

"Yes! Listen to Sakon!" another guy exclaimed, "She's obviously not the person who you think she is!"

The terrifying redhead child growled, gritting her teeth, "Fuck off, you damn trash!" she barked back at them. She twisted her evil face back at a trembling Sakura who gripped the front of her skirt desperately, to do anything, wanting to runaway but she couldn't when those brown eyes stayed with her green ones.

"Hey! Hey! What's the meaning of this?" Temari was the first to find the words in her throat, glaring dangerously with the other girl, "Sakura had done nothing to you! You should stop it with picking on the new kids!"

"Tayuya! You're going to get yourself in deep shit!" yet another guy, who was clearly one of the redhead's friends, cried out urgently.

"We thought your habit had stopped by eleventh grade!" Ino spoke too, though obviously not wanting any part of her.

Tayuya didn't even acknowledge her, but had analyzed every part of Sakura.

She nodded slowly, smirking, "She's different."

"How can she be different than every one of those new kids you bullied? She _does_ have feelings!" Temari stood up shouting, but both a panicky Haku and fidgety Kiba held her back. Luckily not one teacher was in the linoleum hallways, though there were many students there but none of them were willing to tell on her nor would they leave until they see the first punch.

Tayuya shrugged, cocking her head towards the new girl, "Your name is Haruno Sakura right?" she smiled warmly, something everyone was stunned to see such a one-in-a-million moment in front of their naked eyes. That smile had graced her lips, taking away her mean exterior which gave Sakura to squint her eyes slightly, remembering something.

"Whoa! Jiroubou would be shocked to see that!"

"I know! And he'd been training his fat ass off to make her look more lady-like!"

And upon hearing that last word, Tayuya blew into flames and horns began to sprout on her red head, with her hair changing from straight strands to sharp ringlets, casting off a halo of flames, "FUCK YOU KIDOUMARU! God-_fucking_-damn it! I don't need to _fucking_ impress some _fucking_ fat ass just because he's _fucking_ used to _fucking_ stereotypical crap you fuckers had _fucking_ read off the whatever _fucking_ magazine you fuckers had _fucking_ read!"

Sakura could see that half of the people, who were standing behind her, had widened their eyes and inched their feet away quickly from the devil woman. To be truthful, she had never heard a girl swear so much, which had marred the redhead's good looks into something crazy. She wondered why in real life there were no censoring 'beeps' to keep small children from hearing so many curse words coming out of that insane girl's jabbering human hose mouth. Man, all those years she had trained herself not to swear at all had absolutely obliterated when someone had taken free speech to a new level of self expression.

The young woman turned back to Sakura, with that same scary, yet warm smile on her face, "So, is your name Haruno Sakura?"

"Y-Yes," she chirped, her mouth moved without the function of her frozen brain.

That scary warm smile had grown into something so horrifyingly—nice…?

"I _FUCKING_ KNEW IT!" With all her mustered strength (which was a lot!), the Tayuya girl had threw her fierce arms around Sakura's body and rocked her body side to side into some twisted illusion of a stringed marionette that moved with the wooden joints of its terribly flexible, limp ornamental body. It was only hope, that Sakura had survived the bear hug.

"I KNEW YOU WERE SAKURA! I fucking knew it!" Tayuya dropped the poor girl, throwing one arm around her small shoulders and paraded her around the hallway in a happy cheery mood, "This is Haruno Sakura folks!" people widened their eyes upon hearing that last name, "Welcome her to this fucking school, and if you fucking mess with my COUSIN—I'll fucking kick your head in!"

Like everyone, Sakura choked on her own spit.

**To Be Continued**

_It's too short, but I hope everyone enjoyed it. I'm a bit tired, so I'll work on the next chapter tomorrow. I had thought for a long time that Tayuya and Sakura had looked very similar with each other, so I decided to make them relatives_ (Shrug)_. I can bet Tayuya fans are giving each other high-fives and swearing to their hearts' content. _

_Anyway! You have just read the seventh chapter! CONGRATULATIONS! _

_Now wait patiently and behold your prize, for the EIGHTH CHAPTER that has yet to be typed! WOO!_

REVIEWER RESPONSES: (Only able to answer a few!)

To **purerandomness**: 'The boy who cried wolf?' Of course I heard it! That guy is pure genius! Until, you know, all his sheep were killed senselessly by the wolf who actually did come and all the villagers were ignoring him when he cried day and night, while counting sheep to go to sleep but only to wake up and cry again when he found out he had no sheep. I actually enjoyed reading your review! Thank you for reading!

To **Diamond Skye**: For future references, I'm sorry I yelled. I KNOW ITS SPELLED S-H-I-Z-U-**_N_**-E! BUT I LIKE S-H-I-Z-U-**_M_**-E BECAUSE IT SOUNDS PRETTIER AND I'D BEEN TYPING HER NAME THAT WAY FOR A VERY, VERY LONG TIME! SINCE I DON'T KNOW THEIR LAST NAMES, I HAD DECIDED TO USE 'SABAKU' AS A LAST NAME INSTEAD OF ADDRESSING THEM ALL 'SABAKU no'! I'm glad you like Haku in this story! I always thought of him as a cute character, and he's very sweet in _Naruto_. I actually like adding spice to character's personalities and since we only knew Haku for such a short time, I had thought of creating him into a phenomenal character, aside from the noted 'perfection' which I had found that characters being Mary-Sues or Mardy-Sams are stupid, and so I like to make him into this stylish suave japery person. Anyway, thank you for pointing those out!

To **Kiyoko-San**: (Authoress jumps up and down) Oh! I'm so glad you're one of those awesome readers/reviewers who don't care about the pairings! It actually makes my job (though I don't get paid in this site) a lot easier! Don't worry about the whole 'Shizume' fiasco everyone's poking me about, I never got used to typing 'Shizune'. Sorry I can't answer to your manga-team-up question! _NUH-UH! _That was not a SHORTIE! But thank you anyway for taking your time to review!

To **kouzumi 4eva**: Then, you're the first (Laughs). I am also a fan of kouzumi, I think they're so cute together. Thank you for boosting up my confidence, big help I'd say! Thank you for reviewing!

To **Purple.Cherry.Blossoms**: Well, people do tend to squeal and faint when they read fanfiction stories, I have to say it's a symptom of some kind. I'm glad you thought it was hilarious! I didn't think it was, so I decided to add the prank author's note to make everyone jumpy—I swear I won't do that again.

To **AnimeSenko**: Whoa, not what you expect from a reviewer. But thank you for freaking out!

To **Snickerdoodles4u**: I like your penname, its funny! I'm so happy there's another person who likes Tayuya, I sure do, I really love her swearing, rough edge, tough exterior, and have Jiroubou scold her like a child. I really think she's pretty whenever she's her flute, and she's strong as hell. Too bad she died when Temari went Big Bad Wolf on her. Hope this chapter had done you good! Don't worry about beating me up if I ever try that again, this site conjures total anonymous identity. Thank you for being the first to review on the last chapter!

_AND THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ELSE FOR READING, REVIEWING, FLAMING, AND HATING ME!_


	8. Billie Jean Janitor

**Disclaimer:** Darling, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

Fanfiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary: **AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

**_AN_:** Sorry for the obvious long wait, I had other things to do. Actually I made my own deviantART account, BeautifulEnemity, if anyone likes Naruto fanart. Oh, I'm so happy you guys had liked the last chapter! Please Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

**Billy Jean Janitor**

* * *

_Monologue_

We salute you, Micheal Jackson. Heil!

* * *

(Nurse's Office)

She fluttered her long eyelashes, watching six chattering students and a white dog enter into the nurse's office. A tall brunette stood up from her small meager white desk with her paperwork and a small white vase with small blue irises. Her long ponytail streamed down her modest nurse outfit and looked confused at the huge group, opening her red mouth for names.

"Kiba? What are you and your friends doing here?" she blinked, checking her clipboard.

"Ohayo Onee-san!" the rugged teenager barked, "Ah, we just came here to see Hinata-san, that's all."

"Oh, alright," she smiled, her tattoos shaped her grin into something dashing, "But I can only allow three people at a time, so I guess…"

Ino shook her head politely, pulling on the hands of the protesting Tenten and Temari, "We'll go after the guys. I think they can be the comic relief for Hinata, seeing that um, she…ah…got hurt." She glared at the two frightened Haku and Kiba, Akamaru whined, "These jokes have to apologize."

"Damn straight," Naruto frowned then waved at the nurse, grinning, "Hey Hana."

"Oh, good to see you again Naruto-san," Hana turned around and was met up with two giant brown eyes, "Uh, and you—" Haku dramatically took two steps forward, dropping on knee like he was proposing and took her clipboard-free hand into his own and kissed her fingers. Everyone else sweatdropped.

Haku smiled, his brown eyes sparkled comically, "I bestow upon the only beautiful Inuzuka, and ask for the entrance of the white room where I shall cure the Hyuuga lady with my not so great healing skills, but I can give it a try with my lame jokes and handsome good looks."

Crickets chirped. Someone coughed in the quite audience. A rolling tumbleweed passed on by.

Hana twitched, "Thank you, Haku-san. That…was probably the most unromantic thing I have ever heard of…" She had quickly disappeared from the nurse's office, they began to hear howls of tear-weeping laughter and foot stomping cackles outside in the hallways. Kiba flared up and bonked the taller boy with his fist.

"WHAT THE HELL?" he barked, frothing, "Trying to hit on MY sister now?"

"'Handsome good looks?'" Ino laughed, Haku rolled his eyes.

"I know you're the first girl to resist me, but don't rub it in!" he scowled in mock anger.

"Dude…" Naruto looked highly impressed, "I really like your style. Oh! And next time go with the smooth deep voice—"

"NEXT TIME! There's not going to be a _next_ time!" Kiba yelled.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous…" Haku waved it off from Naruto's comment, twirling his braid in his nimble fingers.

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME!" Kiba shouted, nearly lunging on him until Temari held him back.

She slapped her forehead, laughing, "Oh wow, that was fantastic Haku! You really know how to charm a woman."

The Momochi boy looked flustered with delight, "Why thank you, Temari-kun!"

"'The _only_ beautiful Inuzuka?'" Ino winced, "You make it sound like the rest of Kiba's family are hideous."

"NOW you're saying MY MOTHER is UGLY?" Kiba exclaimed.

"I never said that," Haku looked offended, "All I said was that Hana-kun is the only good-looking one in your family."

"When did you learn how to talk like Lee?" Tenten asked curiously, Akamaru barked and panted excitedly.

"I never needed lessons from Lee-kun to know how to be a gentleman. And now, I'm off!" Haku saluted and disappeared with cackling Naruto behind the clean white curtains, leaving the three girls to laugh and Kiba to fire up and right behind him.

* * *

(Science Lab)

Her dark shoes tapped impatiently against the linoleum flooring of her classroom. Her crossed fingers drummed while she muttered calming spells to herself while every ticking second had passed by, driving her crazy to the point where she would rip open his goddamn chest and cut up all his internal organs. As if in a calling, a tinkling ring of copper keys had hit against her door, and opened up her science lab.

She growled, clenching her teeth, before stomping over, "Where the heck were you? You were supposed to be here hours ago!"

A tall towering figure stood over her unfazed form, entering into the classroom. The sky lights had illuminated his suave slouched form, shining through the long gray strands of his messy goofy hair, that was weakly held up with the tight binding of his black pirate's eye patch over one orb, and his lone droopy eye had glimmered like a polished round onyx stone. Over his mouth and nose was a papery white cleaning mask, a magenta handkerchief was tied around his slender strong neck with a set of giant earphones connected to the CD player on his belt banging off raggedy jazz music, and from his collar bone lazily buttoned down to his ankles was adorned in a powder blue cleaning suit, his two feet was crammed into two comfy gray shoes and his hands were gloved in yellow rubber that held onto one orange book.

The janitor looked tired, yet careless when his one eye looked around the room, "What does the room need? A paint job?"

"You didn't do that either!" Shizume yelled.

"Nope," he replied, holding up the book to his nose.

"Then what did you DO?" she yelled.

"Rhythm."

"Huh?"

The earphones were apparently placed up to his ears again, as he glided across the classroom in one sweep of his clean shoes. He twirled and dropped down on a half split, bouncing back up and did all kinds of crazy moves, looking about to combust in any moment. His hidden lips moved to the lyrics of his music, singing randomly, "_Dance on the floor, in all around baby…People always told me, be careful, don't go around breaking young girl's hearts…but she came behind me, the smell of her sweet perfume…Billie Jean's not my lover, she's just the girl…claims that I'm the one…_"

"STOP DANCING!" Shizume screamed, pulling off the earphones roughly from his ear.

He stopped and rubbed the side of his head, "Hey…that was totally uncalled for…"

The frustrated professional woman looked about to explode, "Could you at least just clean up the room for me? There was a giant mess of sticky melted candy around table three, and the repairman had _already_ came…" her death glare didn't seem to bother him, "_So_ you can paint over the burn marks over the plug ins. And paint the room white, since you _didn't_. And I also need you find some replacements and appliances I would need on this list…"

She handed him a piece of paper with finely typed words and price tags, all found in the same store. He sweatdropped when there was also a print out of a map on the corner of the hardware shop. He sighed pocketing the piece of paper under his belt, he glanced at Shizume.

"I know where the store is…"

"I know you do, Kakashi," Shizume twitched, "But the last time you went to the wrong store two miles away from town, which you weren't supposed to, you didn't come back for two days, and when I found you at last, you were having a couple of beers with a bunch of your other janitor friends together with only a third of what's on the blasted list. And not to mention another time when you—"

"Alright, alright," Kakashi held up his hands, "I won't screw up this time. Though…" his eye darted around the room, "I would have to clean up your class tomorrow, since I have a hair appointment—"

The sounds of aggravated feminine screams had echoed across the near empty hallways.

* * *

(Patient's Room)

Hinata smiled when the two boys apologized politely, their smiles widening when she forgave them. She wiped her watery eyes with a small towel caused by the effects from breathing in the dark microwave smoke hours ago, and blushed infinitely when Naruto placed one hand on her shoulder and seated himself on same cot next to her. The three boys were spared a full fifteen minutes for the visit before they should leave the school campus with the girls, who were still outside chatting pleasantly with the young nurse.

"S-So, um, Kiba? How d-did your sister g-get a job h-here?" she asked nervously, cutting into their talk about the different smells of cheese. She flushed when the trio snapped their heads at her.

Kiba scratched his head curiously too.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama gave her the nurse job almost immediately instead of the other qualified old nurses, since, you know? Young, a woman, yadda yadda, all that jazz," Kiba looked a tad agitated, "I just hate it when a few egotistic guys in this shit hole try to fill her up." Hinata looked a little confused.

Haku unbraided his long hair and started to pin it up in all sorts of places, smiling wickedly.

Naruto chuckled and voiced out, "I thought you sister works with your family in that vet office and animal shelter."

"Animal shelter?" Hinata blinked.

"Well, Onee-san works both as the school nurse and an upcoming veterinarian," Kiba looked proud.

"Did she ever get either of the studies messed up before?" Haku asked thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" the nurse's brother asked immediately.

The girl-boy dallied on, "Oh, you know, accidentally prescribing a goat grape-flavored cough medicine, or even maybe accidentally sticking the long and cold thermometer into someone's—"

"NO she did NOT!" the tattooed teenager growled, rubbing a happy Akamaru behind the ear.

Hinata and Haku laughed, chortling along with Naruto. The flaxen boy crossed his legs together on the thin springy bed cot, and then fingered the bright green and blue colors of his new Hawaiian printed shirt, underneath his navy school jacket. He smiled, his whisker scars curled with his foxy grin.

"Guys, don't you ever think it was weird, seeing that a lot of the students and staff members are related or live together?" Naruto asked, piping up everyone's attention.

"H-How so…?" Hinata asked timidly, happily poking her index fingers together.

"Oh, you know," Naruto looked up at the blindingly white ceiling, "Kiba's related to the hot nurse—" Kiba glowered, but he continued, "—Tenten is that crazy Anko-sensei's niece. Thickbrows and Gai-sensei are practically father and son. Sasuke-teme had an older brother who used to be a senior when we were freshmen. The old librarian had a grandson who graduated from school here a year ago…"

Haku shot up his hand, chirped, "Temari-kun's got two other brothers festering around the campus. Ino-chan's dad used to teach History before Asuma-sensei was hired! Oh! And those awful twins, Sakon and Ukon!"

"You're related to Hyuuga Neji," Kiba frowned, nodding to a sad Hinata.

"My younger sister Hanabi is joining the school next year," she whispered softly, then depressingly adding, "She's a prodigy too."

"Kimimaro and Kabuto lives with that creepy vice principal. I live with Ero-Sennin," Naruto counted off his fingers, didn't seem to realize Hinata's rather defeated expression, "Sakura-chan lives with Obaa-san and Shizume-onee-san from time to time…since they are her caretakers whenever her rich parents are out of town, _again_…and she is now related to _that_ Haruno Tayuya." Haku and Kiba shuddered, Akamaru buried his wet nose in his master's navy jacket.

Hinata nearly choked on her spit, "T-Tayu-y-ya?"

"Oh right," Naruto hit his head, "How could I forget that you weren't there? Well, anyway, yeah, we just found out about an hour ago that Tayuya and Sakura-chan are cousins. Even I didn't know that and I was her childhood friend! I should have guessed! They both wear hats! They're the same height! They look almost alike!"

"They look almost alike…?" Haku blinked, propping his elbows on his knees instantly with curiosity dwelling in his tempting brown eyes, "You mean, Sakura almost has red hair under that cap?" Kiba widened his split eyes, and looked at the fickle-minded Naruto for confirmation.

"Uh, um, you see…ah, well—well I, um, err—ha! Funny story, um…" Naruto stumbled on his words, twiddling his fingers.

Only Hinata had realized his discomfort and spoke up before letting his best friends jab at him with hot poker sticks for answers.

"W-Where is S-Sakura-san?" Hinata whispered, a little concerned.

He looked absolutely relieved, and ready to kiss her (Oh, she can hope) but refrained when his friend's name popped up, "Uh…she told me she needed to talk to Obaa-san about something…"

* * *

(Dean's Office)

Before the rim had even touched her lips, her tea had nearly tipped over her slender fingers when the main office double doors were thrown open. Shouts and curses were shooting in the background behind the thin pale pink walls, scurry shuffling sounds of paper and knocked over chairs had hit the carpet floors. A sudden ruse of repeated apology was heard, a shrilly voice was barking at the intrusion, and a loud bicker of obscene swear words had caused someone detention. She narrowed her hazel eyes, roughly placing the china on her saucer before storming out of her small once quiet room.

Her robust curvy body moved through the doorway with a high clicking of her stilettos, Tsunade yelled out, "What is disturbing my peace! You people better have an explanation for this!"

Suddenly her jaw dropped, "Sakura? Tayuya? What are you two doing here?"

Two lanky figures of swishy school skirts, white blouses, one with red hair, and another with a snow cap had thrown open the doors, intruding into the offices which had clearly roused her old quadriplegic secretary who held up her meaty arms where her pincer-like bony fingers had snatched onto their aching ear lobes. The two school girls squealed and jumped around at the clench of the merciless handicapped lady with disapproving creases in her wrinkled face, where two dark eyes were pint on the blond woman.

"Oh my God! Let go of my ear!"

"Get your friggin' hands off me tramp!"

The fine wrinkles around her mouth deepened, "Tsunade-san, I believe these young ladies deserve some kind of punishment! Coming in here, making noise—"

Tsunade sweatdropped, "Uh, Kanaye-san…maybe ear-pinching isn't the appropriate…"

"_Pfft!_ I had expected better from a disciplinarian!" the wrinkled fingers snapped off the lobes, where the girls stumbled over and grimaced at the pain of their heads. The secretary folded her arms together like a stubborn child, "This school's stuffed with a bunch of wimpy caution-freaks. These days they're always saying 'kids have feelings, Anda', 'no whipping the students, Anda', or 'most teachers don't bring in hunting rifles, Anda'. There's no action! Back in my day, we could hang children upside down from ceilings by their _toenails_—" A pleasant dreamy expression crossed her face, "—and for hours long, we would hear them screaming and shrieking in agony…"

When the girls were gawking at her with horror, the blond dean groaned exhilarated, "Kanaye-san, what did I keep telling you about the students today? Stop scaring them and go back to your desk! There's not another town for a hundred miles that would allow crazy annoying crones to work in schools!"

The secretary scoffed, and wheeled around the office towards her desk, at the same time muttering loudly, "Humph, no wonder he didn't marry you…" Tsunade looked flushed, her left eye twitched before she hotly escorted the two girls to her office.

She closed and locked the door, and blinded the shades over the windows and glass view on the door. She emptied tea bags in her fine teapot and waited until the hot water blended with the sweet smelling herbs into a nice green color. She sighed, setting out two china cups of hot tea in front of them.

"Thanks," Sakura murmured, sipping it.

Tayuya looked around the small pink office, her sharp brown eyes judged every inch of the walls with anticipation from each picture frame to the small pots of neatly decorated banzai trees. The little pet pig slept cutely on a cushioned basket at the corner and blue and white patterned wallpaper of small playful slugs had trimmed the pink ceiling had made her grimace with distaste. Tsunade watched the redhead grudgingly, folding her arms together and leaned against her leather chair. The blonde had always been very wary with this student.

"Is there something you want to ask, Sakura-san?" Tsunade replied kindly, sticking her hand into her purse.

Sakura blushed, and placed the cup gently on the saucer, "Yeah, I was meaning to ask you…"

She breathed in and out, looked up with her green eyes.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME MY OWN _ONLY_ COUSIN WENT TO THIS SCHOOL?" Sakura cried loudly, standing up and slamming her hands on the tabletop, making the teapot and cups of half-drunken tea jump excitedly.

"Well, I thought it would be a nice surprise," Tsunade explained, picking her words, "It would be like a family reunion in your own school grounds, besides Tayuya didn't even know you were here until her mother, your aunt, had told her last night. You two haven't seen each other for more than five years, so I just wanted to see your expressions, which I didn't, if you had encountered each other."

"You didn't tell her?" Tayuya looked confused, "Shit, no wonder she thought she saw a damn ghost."

"A GHOST? I didn't see some ghost!" Sakura shrieked, advancing on the other girl with her arms waving animatedly, "You THREW me against the lockers on my third day of school! Then you SWORE off like crazy, and scared the rest of people like HELL! Then you exclaim you were MY COUSIN TAYUYA and threatened to kick someone's HEAD in if they mess with me!"

"Did anyone mess with you, anyway?" Tayuya voiced out.

"NO! NO ONE DID!" She didn't seem to want to say anything about the incident in her homeroom.

"Well, is there at least someone you dislike?" Tayuya grinned, "I have to beat up someone legally this time without getting myself suspended again—"

"Haruno Tayuya! Stop beating up people and being satisfied with their bruises and broken bones! And stop getting yourself suspended over and over again! I am sick of that! Haruno Sakura! You will sit your behind down on your chair, and from now on speak to anyone within this office with manners!" Tsunade scolded, reaching over and pulling her skinny arm down. Tayuya roved her brown eyes over Sakura's figure when her butt hit the chair.

"Since when did you get so fucking skinny? You barely got any meat in there!" the redhead shouted, and rolled her eyes, "And what the hell is with that stupid hat? It makes your head too small and misshapen. You look worse than when Sakon and Ukon got their shitty Mohawks."

Sakura grinded her teeth, and snatched the gray ski cap from her head. Instantly a stream of glossy pink hair had flowed out and landed down her back, identically as long as Tayuya's red hair. It was now messy and covered over her eyes, shoulders, and lightly flown in the beats of the fan nearly the television across from Tsunade's desk. Sakura ran her hands threw the strands and combed the hair with her fingers, the once pallid colors of her sallow cheeks and neck had turned a pretty glow of light pink and full from the shade of her tresses, making her dull green eyes brighten up from the illumination of the sun lights from outside.

The blond woman looked relaxed now, when the hat was off, "Good. Now you look better."

The sulky girl ran her hand threw the crown of her hair, parting the rest from her face where a charmingly big forehead appeared. She looked uncomfortable with the hair in sight, wiping away the nervous sweat from her pale nose. She looked up with her ski cap on her thighs, carefully constructing her calm demeanor and a small sad mouth had changed from her usual tiny smile.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_Author's Afterthoughts_

Bwahaha, you now finally meet Kakashi the school custodian, singing to one of Michael Jackson's classics. I had already introduced him in chapter three, you probably have forgotten. Looks like everyone has to wait until the next update. Thanks for reading! Thanks for the reviews! They are all highly appreciated. Wait patiently for the next chapter, please! Thanks!

_Kanaye, the handicapped secretary, is probably the only OC so far. Oh don't worry, none of the very few upcoming OCs are main characters. I understand how some readers and writers try to skive from that. They play small parts, they come in a small group, so they aren't any Mary-Sues or Mardy-Sams. _

I had finished writing up the storyline of this story, so I'm going to be updating again. Oh, and I had decided all the pairings already. I don't usually do usual pairings anymore, since I appreciate non-cannon ones more. This also means, that the pairings are all het. So for future references, I'm sorry that some (or all) of your favorite pairings aren't chosen. And no, I don't want to tell anyone of it yet.


	9. Moving to the Motion

**Disclaimer:** Dude, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

FanFiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary:** AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

* * *

**_AN:_** I haven't updated anything in a while and I feel a little weird out by that, ha. But I'm not going to apologize for it, since school always comes first. Remember that, you rebels! I also just gotten interested in _One Piece_ and I might be planning to write a story on it. My love for drawing came back at me tenfold, so I spent nearly all my time on the computer or with paper and pencils. Check out my deviant gallery listed on my journal. 

But I did miss writing my other stories, and it's hard to get hold of my old ideas since I haven't written them down. I did look over the storyline of this story, and found myself in an embarrassing place. Only eight chapters, huh? _Make it another one._

Have a good read.

* * *

Chapter Nine

**Move to the Motion**

* * *

She was still awake, lying restlessly on the cozy living room couch. 

The room was dark, quiet, and it was slightly cool around her pale face. Right now, you might have thought she was dreaming of some things pleasant because a ghost of a smile would tug at her lips then disappeared for a moment more. Light bags under her closed eyes lightened at the complexion, while her body gently adapted to the content surroundings, wanting to fall asleep and let all her troubles subside.

Her eyes were closed, her hair was braided in many small pieces to keep them in a lively frill, while a long gray blanket covered up to her elbows. Her face was illuminated with a thin flickering blue and white sheen cast from the large flat-screen television, across from her. A pencil was clutched loosely in her fingers and a piece of homework was sprawled undone over a heavy textbook on her lap. Her head nodded off to the side where she promised herself one moment of shut-eye, landing on the side of an expensive velvet cushion propped against her side.

But she wasn't alone.

A beautiful heart-shaped face roved over the back of the couch cautiously, two big hazel eyes glimmered sadly as one hand pulled the blanket to be placed properly over the girl's shoulders, and tucked it around her body carefully. The robust silhouette darted eyes and picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned off the late-night western soap opera, before handsome and romantic Constantine was about to propose to his evil twin brother's ex-girlfriend who apparently has cancer, and not expected to live for a few more episodes.

The older woman checked inside and out of her condo, peeking into the cracks of Shizume's bedroom and at Ton Ton's basket in her own master room. All three of her housemates were asleep, before she walked out relieved back into the quiet and dark living room in her swaying robe and sleeping gown with something blinking and beeping in her sweaty hand.

She entered into the kitchen area, and turned on the lights in there. She silently placed the cell phone on the breakfast table before turning on the faucet of the sink and filling a shiny kettle with water for her past midnight coffee. Before long, she sat herself down with a cup of fresh java and a plate of frozen day-old chocolate chip cookies on the table. Her eyes never left the clear screen of her phone.

One Message. One Message. One Message.

Over and over she kept reading that same thing, thinking and thinking for the last whole afternoon right when she had pulled up to her driveway when the phone rang once, twice, and a few more times since she was busy pulling the brake before desperately picking up the phone. The girl was sitting right next to her, tugging back on her hat and holding onto her pet pig before walking out of the car into the condo without another thought.

The woman clasped the phone in her hand then. Her lips trembled, and knew who called.

One Message. One Message. One M—

Her breath hitched.

She pressed one button then suddenly a soothing handsome voice filled the kitchen area:

"_Tsunade-san? You there? Oh, I guess not. Well, anyway, this is Dan calling from the airport. Rin's in the ladies' room, now. I just called to check up on things, find out what's going on back in Konoha, and how's our daughter doing. That's all. It's a busy day down here but don't hesitate to call us. We're probably in the day time if you're planning to call at midnight…"_ A soft laugh. _"We miss her. And if you can, I like to say hi to Sakura. Or, you know, tell her when you get back. You know our number. Thank you, and_ _good day."_

Suddenly, the message was immediately erased by another button.

The blond woman stared aimlessly at the phone, before instantly dialing up the one number she had long recognized and memorized for ages. She had freshly applied makeup, went to the salon for this a few hours ago, skipped dinner, and cleared her voice in preparation for this moment. She nervously pushed the plastic stub and a low ringing noise was heard on the other line.

She pressed the phone against her ear.

"Hello? Dan? Are you there?"

"_Tsunade-san? Is that you?" _

She bit her lip, the light lipstick stuck tenderly to her teeth. "Yes."

She heard his laugh, imagined the movements of his Adam's apple while he pleasantly laughed.

"_My, my, I haven't heard from you in a while!" _

"Yes. I got your message."

The way his black eyes shined amused when he looked at her, a smile tugging on his lips.

"_Well, then. How's Sakura doing? Is she adjusting?"_

She didn't know. "Yes." But she said it anyway.

"_Ah, that's good. I knew sending her back to Konoha would do the job. She was always…so distant when she went to the foreign schools we sent her to. I supposed you know already know that, of course, seeing that you did used to be my number one actress in my company, Tsunade-san. We used to travel together all the time, filming together. You were enchanting."_

She felt herself glow red from embarrassment. "I'd only been in several of your movies."

"_Which you got awards for doing such a good darn job on your acting. You were fabulous, and I knew you would be too when we went to high school together. It's quite amazing seeing how long we had known each other, isn't it?"_

She imagined him sitting down and looking out in the window, the sun pouring over his white hair.

"Yes." She smiled.

"_You have to come back to the company! None of our new actors can act half as well as you do. For that matter, the corporation is always changing contracts with our even leading actors. None of them seem to share the same vision as I do, except you, of course. Critics everywhere are always looking for you, you know? You're too good for someone to just lose." _

She felt so flattered. She felt so complete. "Do you mean that?"

"Of course I do! I would be a fool for saying things I don't mean. I know you're still be a huge hit. Even Rin thought so when she was your intern, remember?"

Suddenly, silence. "Rin?"

"_Of course. She believes in you as much as I do. After you resigned, she was so heartbroken so she quitted acting and became my partner in the company. If you hurry up and apply, history might forget you, Tsunade-san!"_

Another humorous laugh. She faltered. "Rin?"

"_Yes. Your best friend!" He chuckled. "I'm beginning to think you're becoming forgetful again. Remember all the misplaced paperwork and spilled coffee when I was engaged? But I'm glad you're taking such good care of Sakura for us. She needs a stable home."_

Stillness. She frowned lightly. "But she's _your_ daughter."

"I know. But Rin and I, at this point with the company's growth, we can't take care of her properly. Pretty much soon, we both will get sick of traveling and just settle back at Konoha. At this point, Sakura is in your care and your school which we thank you for."

The blonde stared ahead, with a little disbelief.

"She didn't always go with you. She's been in my sight more than the both of yours."

"_I know, Tsunade-san. But parents aren't always perfect. The moment she graduates, we'll come back and provide a home for her."_

"She'll be in college then—"

"_But she can visit us, of course."_

She blinked. "Then, that means…you're not coming next week for her b—_again_."

"_Oh right. Sadly, yes. Rin and I have half a dozen contract signings by then. We're planning on buying her a car, that way, you and Shizume-san won't have to drive her everywhere for her to get to places."_

She blinked again. "I see."

"_Well anyway, Rin can't come to the phone today. She's at another meeting with the press about the exclusive preview ceremony to our newest movie. You know that name. The actors are good, but then again, not as good as you."_

She smiled softly, closing her eyes. "You're making feel so full of myself, Dan."

"_Ah, but you deserve it. By the by, it's almost noon here, I have paperwork to do. Good night and get some beauty sleep, or whatever you do. Good night, Tsunade-san!" _

"Good n—" But the other line was closed.

She stared at the cell phone, and carefully shut it off and placed it on the tabletop.

Slowly guilt began to rise in her when someone wrapped up in a gray blanket, tiny pink braids over her shoulders and tears threatening to fall from her eyes entered into the kitchen area. Tsunade looked disgusted at herself, stood up trying to fix an excuse for the poor girl.

Sakura shook her head, truly upset, "They can't even come to my birthday?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

This is the part where you would applaud for my efforts in updating another chapter. Ha. 

Yes, Sakura's father and mother are not OC. They are real characters would appear in the manga and anime for a short while, placing huge affect on some of the characters. _Dan_ was Tsunade's handsome white-haired former lover and was the one who believed in her ideas of placing medic-nin into teams, to prevent further deaths of ninjas. _Rin_ was Kakashi's former female counterpart, who was a medic-nin and had been the one to surgically to seal the Sharingan eye in him. Funny as to how many crazy plans I have in placing random characters as relations.

More characters to go, you see them, you meet them. Whether they are old or new, you begin to see how they would all intertwine in this holy rhapsody that moves to the flow of teenage lives. It would not only be about Sakura, even though she is the main point here. There will be no point for me to place all these characters here and not do anything with them, even if one's own life or view is bigger than the other's, you have to see that I have all intentions to give myself and you all entertainment and some inspiration to write your own story.

About the pairings…there's no point in telling anyone, as far as I can see. I know from writing and reading fanfiction for several years that most reviewers and readers tend to only look for their most favorite pairing in all the high school or any other AU stories, and thus, ignoring the whole plot of the story. I don't regret my decision one bit, and I just hope you wouldn't blame me when some things turn out in a way you don't expect, and dislike me for it.

Most of the pairings are non-canon, a few are canon. All of them are het. I want people to see there are new things to see and read about, experience, that our teenage lives or stories does not always revolve around drugs, alcohol, gangs, rape, or perfection. Please, just read it for no further judgment.

* * *

_I'm really beginning to love Asian and rock songs. Ha. So much inspiration._


	10. Comic Relief

**Disclaimer:** Chick, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

FanFiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

**Summary:** AU She was new at Konoha High. But she didn't have a dark secret. She wasn't social. She wasn't very attractive. She wasn't very popular or very geeky. Hell, she was always alone. Now that Sakura became a senior, things start to mix up a bit.

* * *

**_AN:_** About the hat thing, I don't want to say anything about it. It'll just ruin the whole point of even writing the story. And the whole 'revenge' thing nearly everyone's talking about, it seems too early to do anything about it and I don't exactly like to call it 'revenge' because it's not. Right now, I'm playing the field. The pairings, I will say it again, I don't want to say anything. If you had read my ending notes in the last chapter, you probably would get my drift. Ah, don't keep harassing me about the updating, I know and I get the point. 

Get funky. Okay, that's about it.

* * *

Chapter Ten

**Comic Relief**

* * *

The afternoon was slightly gloomy with flowing white-gray clouds that covered the blinding rays of the sun like a large weather tourniquet. The grass was moist and still slightly muddy from the difficulties of the sprinklers that a certain masked custodian had forgot to fix, _again_, thus getting the sophomore cheerleaders and the mascot wet and screaming in mortification across the large mowed lawns. 

With only a bit of sunlight, most of the students of Konoha High had decided to sit inside the school cafeteria, rampaging food into their mouths and dribbling gossip that had always made it around the hallways in its daily toll. Rumors of many things: like who were making out at this guy's house party, who won yesterday's street race with his new car parts, if there were really sex noises coming out of the principal's office, and what had happened in the science classroom when the fire alarms alerted nearly everyone to run out of the building because of a devastating candy-exploding project.

And of course, the certain not-so secretive relationship between a redhead and the new girl.

"Oi, Tayuya, you never told us you had a cousin," Kidoumaru remarked, biting into his bologna lettuce and tomato sandwich while fixing his headband around his curly dark hair. The girl sitting across from him frowned gently, before roughly pounding a fist on edge of the blue cafeteria table.

And within that was the clear message that she didn't want to talk about it.

Well, at least, not _now_.

This loud crash caused nearby tables uneasiness and most of them had tried to ignore the sound of damaged school properties, while the rest of her tablemates had laughed and swore off over their lunch trays and slurps of milk and crunches of salty potato chips. Around the grumpy beanie-wearing girl were her male friends and companions, her comrades, her gang, or a much more crude term: her _bitches_.

Each boy was either gorgeous or ugly, loud or quiet, moronic or intellectual. Flirty or cold fish. Twin or not twin. Mean or meaner. Tall or taller. Dark or light. Jock or punk. Which ever it was, Tayuya had known these boys since her first year in high school when her famous name had reached the ears and eyes of the idiots who attended Konoha, who were all her junior and senior, who groveled at her mighty ugly power that she would wield with an iron fist. And a couple of swear words.

Okay, on gloomy days like these when the near whole population of high schoolers had been located in the cafeteria, this is how the usual seating charts go:

**Near front door**; _Front row_: Historian Heads, Lab Losers, Theoretical Ticks, and Environmental-conscious Hippies.

**Middle of the room**; _Second row_: Mathematicians, the Freshmen, Class Presidents, School Officials, Neat Freaks, Teacher Assistants, and Ass-kissers.

**Near lunch line**; _Third Row_: Anime Geeks, Band Members, Dorks, Sophomores, Artists, Archery Group, Bookworms, and Honors Kids.

**Cash register and trash cans**; _Fourth Row_: Alcoholics, Coke Heads, Pranksters, School Bullies, Druggies, Diet Doers, Goths, Dark Poets Clan, Gang Members, and people who are in between.

**Near the windows**; _Fifth Row_: Popular people, Good-looking people, Seniors, some lucky Juniors, Cheerleaders, Jocks, Fashion Addicts, Flirts, and Playboys.

The group had situated themselves everyday at the same table near the windows by the giant mural, which was one of the few best tables only reserved for the popular classes and elite seniors of the school. And if you're lucky enough to be picked into a basketball team or had drunk twice your weight in schnapps, you might just have a chance to sit next to the silent albino Kimimaro, the hot-tempered twins Ukon and Sakon, or even next to the playboy Kidoumaru. But you would probably want to steer away from that table anyway, because, uh, well, you know who else sits there. For better chances in surviving the awful unfair separatism of high schools, you can just sit to the sluts at table five.

Just _not_ at that table. I mean it.

I really, really mean it.

Because everyday, if you were to sit there, you would have to hear this every afternoon at lunch—

"_FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!_" Tayuya screamed, standing up abruptly with all craziness of a banshee and a sore finger. She had cut herself against a sharp corner of an aluminum foil when she was unwrapping her mother's micro-waved homemade pizza leftovers. She suckled at the small wound, tasting the raw metallic flavor on her sharp tongue while the males around the table looked disgruntled when she had interrupted their lunch, again.

"Tayuya, why can't you just act like a lady for at least five minutes?" Jiroubou whispered, scolding lightly at her, "I mean, it's hard enough hearing you talk like a man, when…you're clearly _not_ one…"

"Oh, you and your almighty fatass-iness, can shut the hell up," Tayuya growled through her finger.

"Hey ladies!" Kidoumaru cried out, waving at table five like a 'handful' he was.

The girls had giggled.

Kimimaro was smart enough not to say anything, like he always does, while Ukon and Sakon continued in one of their freaky twin thing conversations where they both have polar opposite discussions about people, clothes, the society, and the pursues of happiness, cigarettes, and women.

"No, a chick with a huge rack is NOT attractive," Sakon argued back, tossing back his gray-violet hair.

"What kind of green have you been smoking?" Ukon laughed in his much deeper voice, "It's obvious that I rather squeeze the hell out of two giant jugs than some broad with a flat chest, it'll be like doing it with a dude." His hands groped the air gruffly in a disgusting gesture that would have had the pastor of a church throw holy water on his head. Kidoumaru snorted.

"A woman with big breasts would only emphasize the size of her ass and the waist length," Sakon explained, being the smarter of the two, since both were intelligent and got satisfying grades in school, "It'll be giving more of an image to how fat she is."

"Well, I veto your idea in petite women," Ukon dangerously muttered, being the crazier of the two, "Curvy women are hot. If their breasts are small enough for me to wrap my arms around them, they're obviously not for me."

The men in the table laughed hysterically. Kimimaro quietly drank his bottle of water, roving his eyes around for his brother Kabuto in the other tables.

But Tayuya did not find that at all amusing.

"Ukon, you stupid fuck! Shut up!" She slapped him upside the head, earning a growl from the latter. Jiroubou groaned again, getting up from the table before he could hear any more swearing from a girl. The others didn't seem to mind, since this was what the big guy had always done for the past three and a half years. When he exited the cafeteria, the noise from the same table could be heard around the room if you had really listened.

"Tch, an answer from a typical ginger," the older twin rolled his eyes, "Not my fault that you like to date guys with the build and brains of a semi-truck. Because I totally understand that _they're_ not sexist."

"Well, I'm SO sorry that I don't date girls with a personality of a broken-down bicycle," the redhead slapped him on the head again, "If only you still had your Mohawk, I would have crushed your stupid skull easily without the damn girl hair in the way."

Ukon just ignored her. It was so easy to do.

Sakon smirked, muttered sarcastically, "I hear little miss here has a cousin somewhere in this shithole. Or am I just imagining that Tayuya could possibly be part of the human species?" Kidoumaru grinned sloppily. He liked to hear there was another girl he can play with.

Tayuya glared at the playboy, "Don't even fucking think about it. She's off-limits."

The six-armed guy looked disappointed, "What gives you the right to tell who or who not to date?"

"Oh, because I'll rip off your balls."

That was enough to convince for a guy who thought constantly about sex.

* * *

**Near the exits**; _Sixth Row_: Normies

(_Normal people, people who don't get enough attention but should_.)

* * *

He dreamt of twinkling lights, beautiful glimmers of gold and white that sparkled against the sprays of translucent water that danced in happy ripples over tiled floors and shiny coins. It was such a beauty, it took his breath away. Every now and then, he would have this dream. A dream of prettiness. A dream of infinite purity encrusted within the fine artwork he was yet to see. 

To soon make. To soon finish.

The water sprouts was beautiful to the ears and the eyes as the dim skylights had showered over like a rain of loveliness and suddenly—

"_HAKU!_"

Suddenly his mind was erased by the instant squawk of a female primate.

He popped open one brown eye and was faced immediately with a reddish flushed face of a blond girl.

She stood over him with a disapproving expression, folding her arms tightly over her chest. Her light blue eyes were near furious and annoyed, while she looked away and began to orderly stack the spoon and fork and empty milk carton in her lunch tray. And it had just occurred to the absentminded student that nearly half a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at his sheepish form from across the cafeteria table.

Haku rubbed his tired face with the pads of his fingers, which strangely, were not manicured.

"You fell asleep again!" Ino complained, irritatingly, "I was saying something important, you know!"

He/she smiled charmingly, "I'm just tired, Ino-kun. My bad."

"Well! Don't do it again! It's very annoying!" she cried, rolling her eyes, "You can be such a—"

"Oh! Sakura-kun! You're wearing another hat today!" His eyes had long drifted to the other tablemates.

Ino gaped while he praised the snow-white color of the winter cap that hid half of the green-eyed teenager's face, "It looks so good on you! It really compliments your skin tone and eyes. I can totally let you wear my new sunglasses tomorrow! You would look so good at school, Sakura-kun! Did I mention I can sing? Yup! Singing is for me! Oh, I can totally do rap and pop, especially sing in really, really low tones like what the guys do in doo wop—"

Sakura smiled politely, a little bit shaky with the girl-boy's outlandish personality when she felt the upset neglected behavior that of Ino. She gripped her backpack straps in her hands tightly before nodding along with Haku, then stopping him/her abruptly.

"T-Thank you, Haku," Sakura managed to smile, glancing at Ino, "Can you repeat what you had said earlier, Ino-san?" The platinum blonde looked utmost flattered and flustered when everyone looked back at her. Even Haku begun to listen, turning his clean, makeup-free face at her.

"Yes, well," Ino cleared her throat, "I think know who's going to be in the science groups with whom."

"YOU KNOW?" Naruto and Kiba cried excitedly, while Hinata gasped squeakily.

Tenten shushed them angrily, "Let her speak!"

Kiba growled, striking an accusing finger at the brunette, "Not with _you_ here!"

"What are you talking about? I won't spill the beans!"

"Spill the beans? No, you'd throw secrets away like chucking eggs!"

Sakura looked confused, while everyone at the table nodded in acknowledgement. Ino groaned, tiredly.

"It's not going to be a secret in the next two hours anyway," she grumbled.

"_Where did you get the juicy details?_" the mustard-haired boy whispered immediately, everyone leaned in.

"Well, I was in the secretary's office after school turning in a file for Hana like I promised her, when Shizume-sensei came in," Ino blinked a few times, "She looked pretty angry though, I don't know why," she didn't seem to be bothered by it, and continued speaking, "She just placed her manila folders in her file drawer and she didn't lock it when she left. Kanaye-sensei needed to go to the restroom first, so I had wait a while. But I wouldn't resist so I snuck a look, and saw the names."

The three boys exclaimed in heated joy, pumping up their fists, "BANZAI!"

"Shut up!" Temari screamed, and punched all of them on the head.

And it was then Ino told them the names.

This had ended in another 'banzai'.

And another ass-kicking.

After lunch had ended, Kiba was complaining loudly. He liked being one of the only people to know, but to let in a school-wide gossip into it was over the top. Tenten looked victimized and tried to retort, but the dog-boy wouldn't hear of it when he cradled Akamaru on top of his messy hair.

"Babe, you can't even keep a secret to make Lee wear a tee shirt."

* * *

All through fifth period, Tenten had a hard time keeping such a little secret. Her small mouth was erupting in all sorts of chaotic ways, which had irritated the teacher for every squeak and pinch voices she kept making in the back of the room. People sitting around her desk looked at her weirdly. Both Neji and Lee raised their eyebrows at her before dismissing her awkwardness. The teacher up at the board grumbled under her breath and heatedly wrote down the lessons with a small stub of chalk, talking quite loudly for the class. 

Suddenly the temptation was immensely troubling. The names that had soared through her mind were mocking. The platinum blonde's voice was kicking at her conscience. The tattooed teenager was right along. She damned him. The howls of laughter had filled her head. Each word, each syllable was so hard not to forget, that it made her want to scream it to everyone.

Even though she knew every gossip and face around school like the back of her hand, she had respected Naruto's group decision of Shizume-sensei's privacy.

Besides, it's something she had always liked about secrets.

The fact that _she_ knew the secret, that is.

The brunette squint her eyes, like she needed glasses, up at the chalkboard trying to concentrate. Her face flushed in embarrassment and she tried to do her class work. But when her pencil accidentally slipped from her twitching fingers and landed loudly on the linoleum floor, the teacher threw up her hands.

"That's it! Girl, if you need some breather, just go and get it outside!"

"Y-Yes, sensei," Tenten got up and bowed to blind eyes, bringing her pale yellow canteen with her.

Outside in the hallway, the pooped brunette gulped down as much water as she could. The remarkable fact that she knew who in the same science group was absolutely laughable. It was no wonder that the boys in the sixth row couldn't stand having her there, because they knew she couldn't keep a secret to save her life. But she knew. Oh, she knew.

Enemy with enemy, rival with rival, innocence with evil, bully with the bullied, her best friend with—

"What are you guys doing out here?" She squealed, hushed. The corridors was dead quiet until the classroom door opened abruptly, two boys came out with shrugs.

"It's nothing we've never learned," Neji grunted, "Besides the woman is just the substitute."

"Yosh! You were looked troubled during lunch time!" Suddenly Lee looked a tad sad, "You don't even sit with us anymore."

Tenten smiled uneasily, "I know. I…I just really like those guys, that's all."

"_Those_ idiots?" the Hyuuga barked, he had no respect for any of them.

She frowned, "Well, _I_ like them. Ino and Temari also likes them. One of them is _your_ cousin! Naruto, Kiba, and Haku are actually really nice and adorably weird. And they're _not _idiots."

"Well, if the shoe fits…" Neji trailed on, but Rock Lee had fortunately cut into the future argument with a loud and long speech about their youthfulness wasting to its core for bitching like old women over fish bargains, or whatever the hell he was talking about. They just pretended they didn't hear.

"Besides, _Neji_," Tenten said the last syllable of his name in a snarling tone, and began talking in her usual voice in which she tempted listeners to the little secrets she knew with polite greed in her eyes, "You would be wholesome happy next period, since _I_ for one know for a fact that you're going to be paired up with more than three _normies_. And you, _Lee_, will be working side by side with guys who have giant sticks up their ass."

The two young men stared at her with confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing." Tenten felt guilt welling up in her. But technically, she _didn't _say the names.

* * *

She knew she couldn't tell anyone. Already seeing her blond guardian's face that had saddened when she stared at her abrupt entrance was enough for the new girl to know that, somehow, everything was unfair and that there will be another day where she wouldn't see her parents again. She felt that she was very fortunate to still have parents, good people who wanted to provide for her. But they were not like those parents who were always shown on the television or in the newspaper that was so full of them. 

Their cruelty had lied in their absence.

And slowly, just slowly, she felt she was growing up alone all over again. But she wasn't able to accept that piece of information yet. It was hard enough to know that she had parents who knew how to be good and loving, and yet was neglectful of their only child, that she could only worry about the smaller things first. She stopped writing down her notes from one of her teacher's long and boring lectures, her eyes hazy and her lips chapped.

Sakura fidgeted in her chair. She had many things to worry about. She didn't like what she heard over the lunch trays.

Especially to be paired up with—

"Nara Shikamaru!" Asuma-sensei yelled over the quiet classroom, quickly throwing a marker on his head.

The boy far back in the class woke up steadily, in such a pathetic state that he wiped drool from his mouth and swiped pieces of messy hair away from his face that were loosened from his feather duster when he slept tiredly on top of his desk. Every student's face turned around and watched the guy look up with slow eyes that looked and analyzed every face looking at him, every word on the board, and every book in the shelves next to him.

The new girl had a few traumatic rumors about this lazy guy, but she didn't whether or not it were true. Sure people say he was the only person in Asuma-sensei's history class who knew all the answers to his difficult mind-numbing questions and was still able to sleep peacefully, could ace all tests without doing them because he was too lazy to even pick up a pencil, was able to bombard all the intellectual grades in Konoha High school grade records but didn't feel like he wanted to, and to be accepted in all colleges and gifted schools but wasn't very conscious about his grades or about his future like she was.

"_Lazy genius_." Temari's smirk was still pictured in her mind.

But now, here was the proof to this remarkable theory.

His eyes barely scratched the surface of the long passages neat handwriting on the board, when he just nuzzled back to sleep on his desk. Asuma looked disgruntled, just whispering several birth and death dates of historical figures and other grilling short questions. The whole class watched them bite back and back at each other.

"Founder of Edo Shogunate," Asuma grumbled.

"Tokugawa Ieyasa," Shikamaru grumbled.

"1716 to 1783," Asuma muttered.

"Yosa Buson," Shikamaru muttered.

"1769 to 1821," Asuma whispered.

"Napoleon Bonaparte," Shikamaru whispered.

"Founder of Anglicanism," Asuma murmured.

"Henry VIII," Shikamaru murmured.

They had looked at each other deeply for what felt like hours, until the bearded and smoking teacher began to laugh and returned back to his lessons. Every student seemed to know this, sighed in relief and some had smirked and mentally applauded Shikamaru, before going back to take notes. Sakura stared aimlessly and stunned at the lazy genius when he went back to sleep.

At least he wasn't her teammate.

* * *

"Alright, class. Another morning, another day," Shizume smiled brightly to the class of bored and excited students. She lifted up a clipboard and began to read off the names of the selected teams, whose people were all anxious and yet annoyed but more eager than normal. 

"Ino, Haku, Sakura, Neji, Shino, Kiba, and Kin."

"Sasuke, Kabuto, Zaku, Ukon, Dosu, and Rock Lee."

"Naruto, Hinata, Temari, Shikamaru, Tayuya, Sakon, and Yoroi."

"Kankuro, Gaara, Kidoumaru, Chouji, Sigure, Kimimaro, and Tenten."

"That will be your team members for the next thirty days. Seven people per team—no complaints, Tayuya, I already saw your hand in the air—teamwork and efforts will count in your lab presentation, a big part of your grade. Your project will be due at the end of next month. Make an experiment with 'candy' or any sweets. Ask me any questions, ask me for any help. Remember I'm your teacher, so prepare yourselves for a tough grading period."

She stared around the room. Everyone was hushed.

Shizume grinned, her black eyes twinkling, "Good luck."

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

My story had been up for nine C2 communities? _NINE?_

377 hits for the last chapter? You got to be kidding!

Oh, you people make this writer a whole lot warmer.

The grouping was chosen randomly, I really don't have a problem with them. If the story can still expand, it's going to happen two more times anyway. I'm just writing as I write along, no need to remind of my missing plot holes in the story. I remember them.

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_Thank you for the recommendation, _**lostfreakfound**_. I enjoy Jay Chow very much._


	11. A Typical Friday

**Disclaimer:** No thank you, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.

Penname: _LiveLoveLaugh_

FanFiction Story: **Teenage Rhapsody**

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**Summary:** Thank you to those who had still read and reviewed this very ancient story, as you can see, I have not updated any of my stories (aside from revising). For the last few months, I had been doing grueling work to compete in school and after many attempts to sucking up to teachers and late nights of constant study (okay, okay, I'm addicted to web-blogs), I made it through hell and have lost nearly all of my imagination for my fanfiction stories. Yes, the academic administration monsters have done it again. They have successfully turned me into a mindless one-way-functional robot with a sexy body (too sexy) that is destined to go to a local graduate college and become a rich someone's secretary. Damn them all. 

So please enjoy this chapter. I guarantee no fat; one hundred percent lard.

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**Chapter Eleven**

_A Typical Friday_

* * *

Kanaye Anda is not the pleasant woman in your average dean's office. She wasn't obviously borne with the charm of getting along with others, the fact that she ever wanted to be a secretary in a high school was not known to many people. A few say she developed the habit of meanness from years of dealing with severely whipped teachers and more than two thousand high school students who lived to mess with her. Many might have guessed that her cold bitterness came from a fairly bad incident in her earlier life that had got her into a wheelchair in the first place. Though, most still think she was just the evil spawn of Satan (oh, let's not get carried away). 

Today, on a lovely Friday, a week later after the boring spring break she had spent popping pills for rheumatism, she had spent twenty minutes wrestling with one of the goddamn students who dared stepped into her threshold. With her mighty pinching fingers, she grabbed hold of his ears and swung him one side of the room to another, starting up shouts and cries that bounced off the walls. The irritating blond woman, she had worked for many years, had jumped out of her room and pulled them apart from each other.

"Kanaye-san! You can't DO that! It's against all humanity!" Tsunade yelled.

"I caught him! He did it again!" the senile old woman accused, holding up several office supplies that were strewed everywhere, "The moment I wheeled into the office, I caught him taking staples and pens off my table! That stupid brat was thieving—and I caught him, shit!"

"What?" the dean twisted around, with her clutch on the collar of a very petrified Naruto. She stared at him, watching his whisker scars twitch, "You caught him stealing?"

When he offered a stupid smile, Kanaye shrieked, "He better be punished! Stealing is against the rules! He was about to run for it too!" She wriggled her fingers in the air exaggeratedly, her wrinkly skin stretched across her face, "Finally, some justice in this stupid school…"

Tsunade blinked.

"Kanaye-san…" she started slowly, letting go of the boy. The secretary blew up.

"What are you doing, you fool! You're relinquishing your hold on the culprit!" When Kanaye was about to take hold of him again, the boy danced wildly, his legs flailing everywhere, with his hands over his sore ears. "Don't touch me man!" Naruto shouted, hiding behind the robust blonde.

Tsunade grimaced, "Oh God…Kanaye-san, before you grab him, Naruto wasn't…stealing…"

"Then what the hell was he doing with staples and pens?"

"He…was—I already knew he was here—he was just getting them for _me_," the dean nodded in the direction of her office, "I ran out of stationary."

The expression on her face was full of disbelief and dissatisfaction. Suddenly something else sparked in her mind, "Dear Lord! So then YOU were the one who was stealing from MY desk!"

* * *

"Hey, is it also against all humanity if you stuffed sleeping pills down her throat?" Naruto asked concerned, when he peeked out of the door at the unconscious overweight senior snoring across her desk (which coincidentally was missing several ball-points). Tsunade sipped tea from the rim of her china, her tongue sucking against the floating lemon slice. Ton Ton snuggled restfully on her legs. 

"As long as she's quiet," she whispered gently, gesturing him to sit on the chairs facing her, "Besides we don't need any interruption."

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, running both of his hands all over his messy sunshine blond hair. He stretched his arms wide into air, stretching out his body into a deep yawn. All the bones in his spine creaked and bend back over. "You woke me too early…so sleepy…" He draped his arms and head over her desk, tiredly rested his blue eyes. He broke into a sudden comatose. Tsunade twitched at his open rudeness.

"Well, it's not like you ever came here on time! Sit up!" she shouted, causing the pink pig Ton Ton on her lap to jump off and run out of the door, squealing to a distance.

"'quiet Obaa-san, you'll wake up the witch," Naruto mumbled, rubbing his sockets with his fists.

"That doesn't matter…no, wait," the blond dean shuddered, "Never mind that, you're here to listen to what I have to say."

"Yeah, you called me this morning."

"Do you know what it is?"

Naruto looked at her. Suddenly something began to connect one by one; each step in his mind came to humongous conclusions, "Ton Ton needs to be babysat? No? Uh, Jiraiya caught in the girl's locker room? Because I can't really do anything about—no? Err—is it something about me?" From the hazel eyes, he seemed to know, "Are you extending my detention?" From the serious look on her face, he panicked, "Oh my God, I'm not being suspended am I? I didn't mean to Xerox copies of my butt! It looked so fun—I mean, Kiba dared me! I learned my lesson! I promise! Besides the top of the copy machine is kind of cold—huh? You mean—this is worse than suspension?" To this point, he was screaming.

"OH CRAP! Whoever switched orange juice and milk into different cartons was not my doing! The graffiti in the second corridor was made by Haku! It's his artist's instinct you know? But it's pretty nice, you don't need a mural there after all—I mean—I-I didn't break anything! I didn't commit any _sexual_ harassment or molestation! I didn't threaten anybody! Or b-bullied or hit anybody! No Kiba usually does that to me cus I keep misplacing Akamaru—that stupid mutt keeps peeing in the boy's bathrooms! Oh—I'm not supposed to say that—well and the mystery culprit of Ino's dye job was NOT me! STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT YOU UGLY HAG!"

Tsunade twitched violently, "Shut up, Naruto."

She was not ugly, dammit. "You're not in trouble…not yet of course."

"Oh," Naruto sighed heavily, sinking into his chair, "Then why didn't you just say SO?"

He didn't see her hideous scowl, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the office changed drastically and her mad hazel eyes softened so much. In front of his electric blue eyes, he watched the old lady turn so young and vulnerable, nothing in her current appearance demanded obedience from any student. In her faraway look, she seemed to forget about tea and Kanaye and everything else, except the blond boy and the secrets begging to come out of her mouth.

She looked down, rubbing her knuckles, "Do you know whose father called…?"

* * *

"Did I do the right thing?" she said to herself quietly, rubbing the same spot on her knuckles until it was raw and painfully red. Naruto had left her office an hour ago, but her mind was so full of a burden she couldn't easily discard. She not willing to believe her own words, "No, of course, I did. What am I thinking? I am always right with my decisions!" 

_But he's Naruto!_ A tiny dreadful voice in her conscience buzzed aloud.

"Oh please, let this be the right thing," Tsunade begged silently, "I never been more screwed over until now. I feel as though I'm betraying myself…" _Please._

* * *

When Naruto left, he walked out of the dean's office without a second thought. All he heard was his footsteps, his thoughts, and the sleep-talk from the drool-covered lips of the secretary: "Exterminate _damn_ kids…" Snore. "…I…me…" Snore. "…wanna _frappachino_…stupid…_dumb_ blondes…" Another snore. 

"S-Some t-thing wrong, N-N-Naru-t-to-k-kun…?" Hinata whispered stuttering, staying at least two yards away from Naruto. She was afraid she might contaminate his holiness with her undeserved love and wasted devotion. She shook when he walked to her, standing oh so close the edges of her sleeve could brush against the buttons of his navy uniform and violet tropical shirt. He shook his head.

"Are y-you sure?" She gulped, a bit more confident.

She felt the warmth wafting from him. He looked so handsome.

"Nah…Obaa-san just gave me detention," he grinned foxily, "You know, Hinata-san, you're really nice."

_Oh God._ Hinata felt the little demon in her crawling into her back of her mind to hump something.

* * *

After school had ended, another week of school had passed; the afternoon sun had risen over the blue sky, spring had not yet ended and summer had not yet started. The humid warmth surrounded the residents of the city, causing sweat to appear unmistakably under armpits and gushing of water from a local hydrant to flood the cement streets. The sounds of mechanical tweaks and sharp piercing of metal, gas, and vulgarity of echoing shouts had swarmed several minors' senses when a group of kids entered through the garage of a car repair shop. 

"No way!" Ino shouted over the cranks and sizzling of large machinery, "You live above a mechanic shop?"

"Heck yeah!" Haku beamed, his/her voice was the loudest, "My dad manages it! Welcome to the number one chain of _Gaito's Speedy Repair and Car Wash!_"

It really was a large establishment; a huge towering department with many different automobiles hanging on one end to every car part and tire, a low ceiling with bright skylights and racetrack flags dipping over their heads. Beautiful cars were parked in front, gleaming shiny from a day's bath and once-over. The scent of gasoline, copper, and soap had inundated their noses, giving the teenagers headaches. The sounds and noise and every racket made in the repair shop was unbearable, any normal person would have had their eardrums explode from the tremendous screeches of polishing gear.

Kin shrieked when she dodged a fast one from a splash of water over a bubbly soapy car; a thug with scars over his forearms shouted something to Haku, who cheerily yelled something back. Sakura and Shino watched another mechanic spit on the ground and clean his mouth with the back of his hairy hand. The boy/girl blushed and immediately led his/her science group to the back, as they covered themselves from scary looks of supposedly ex-convicts.

There was another room down the hallway, leading from Employee's Only and Men's and Women's restrooms (though, they haven't seen a woman yet), the manager's office that was locked, the car parts shop where they overheard an argument between a sleazy customer and a skinny cashier over spinners, a small dirty cafeteria with a few mechanics smoking and drinking bad coffee, and empty smelly locker rooms. The periwinkle blue door of the lone backroom had hung a sign _Haku _in front; it was unoccupied and looked more like a giant game room covered in dust, old machines, and spare parts than a study room for up-coming mechanic interns.

There was a foosball table and old Pac Man machines that Kiba gushed over, pulling on the knobs immediately. Akamaru barked when flashes of bright lights and recorded music came on. Two couches faced a giant analog no-cable black-and-white television. In the corner was something huge that was curtained with a large damp sheet for naked eyes. When Ino was about to touch it, Haku pushed her over to the middle of the room. "Nothing you want to see anyway," he/she smiled.

Ino got hold of herself as she settled herself down on one of the squishy patched-up couches, "Do you live here?"

"Naw," Haku shook his/her head, "I live pretty far from the city, I come back here everyday after school so my brother can drive us back."

"You have a brother?" Sakura piped up, sitting next to Ino.

Neji and Shino seated themselves far away from the group as they speculated every inch of dust. Kin covered herself uncomfortably as if every spider hanging off any cobweb was staring straight at her with every one of their eight beady eyes. Haku giggled.

"Dad, brother, a cousin…" He/she smiled, "Doesn't matter. Zabuza adopted me a long time ago, so any title isn't important."

"You were adopted…?" Sakura whispered in disbelief.

"Yup, we lived with each other for the longest of times, ever since I was a little good-for-nothing boy…" The teenagers in the game room looked at him with mixed emotions, uncertain of what to say. A hooded gloominess in his brown eyes came and went so fast, Sakura nearly denied her own reality.

"Wait. You're a boy?"

* * *

He was staring at the window for a long time, his pencil in his hand laid limp and unused, the tip of the lead on his unfinished math homework over his textbook. His attention to the bright sun outside was snatched away when a kind female voice blocked his happy, happy thoughts, "Here you go sugar. Eat up! You look famished." _Ping!_ went his straight impossibly white teeth and a thumb's up. 

"Thank you Utako-san!" Lee cried in all politeness and excitement, "With this godly delicious snack, I will have top-notch energy for my studies tonight!" The elderly waitress with poofy white hair and smiling red-harlot lips placed a plate of warm apple pie and a cup of cream-and-sugar coffee on his table, some might conclude she was blind and crazy since she liked to flirt with the bowl-cut boy every time he came to eat here. But it was always his kindness that seemed to brighten up the insides of the lonely western diner; everybody who worked and comes to the restaurant daily appreciated him as a regular customer.

Then again, it took a while for anyone to get used to him.

"Lee! I knew you would be here!" A brunette teenaged girl walked in briskly, her uniform skirt swishing with the rapid movements of her tan legs. She walked towards his table, not even realizing she pushed Utako aside with her elbow as she shoved her way to sit across from her best friend. The old waitress left in a huff; unfortunately, not many people in the diner liked the regular customer Tenten.

"Hello Tenten! How refreshing you look!" Lee waved exuberantly. She ignored what he said.

"You cannot believe what I went through at the library!" Tenten cried, slamming her stack of books on the table, causing the apple pie and coffee cup to clatter. "Only half of my group came! Half! Everyone—except Chouji—are such indescribable jerks! Stupid mean jerks! None of them—except Chouji—was willing do shit for the project!"

"Oh?" Lee rubbed his neck nervously, "I guess I also feel kind of used in my group…Sasuke-kun kept walking out today."

"See what I mean! Shizume-sensei is killing us!" she shouted, igniting glares from nearby tables.

"We're trying to eat here, y'know!" The mother from a family table yelled, settling down a bawling baby.

Tenten scowled, covering her face in frustration. Lee suddenly noticed the bronze sunlight from the window had caused the strays of her brown hair to be slightly golden-orange, but snapped out of his blurry thoughts when Utako returned to their table with a frown marred on her powdery face. Her hands held a pencil and booklet, "What may I get you, girl?

"Oh, right…" the brunette scanned the menu for a while, "I'm on a diet for basketball, so I'll take…a hamburger with all the dressings, French fries, and a chocolate milkshake, thanks!" She said tersely, looking away and expecting the waitress to leave immediately. Utako rolled her green eyes and left in a strut.

"You don't have to be so mean…" Rock Lee leaned in and whispered to her.

"Well! You know, I'm pissed. Those asshole Sabaku brothers are really the ones who made me like this," Tenten muttered, opening one of her literature textbooks, "Kankuro kept asking me what my astrological sign was…and that…that Gaara! He just stared at all of us and just left! Right there! Without saying anything! God!"

The thick-browed young man looked abashed, "Gaara-san? But he's so niiccee!"

Tenten shot him a dirty envious look, "You're the only one he can somewhat get along with ever since last year—but he's still a stuck-up jerk to everyone else!"

"Yes, but if you ever stopped to get to know him—"

She shuddered, "No thank you, Lee, I rather eat staples. He could probably slaughter me first! Did you _not_ hear what people say about him? He ate a whole duck for dinner!"

"That's not true!"

"Except for the webbed feet, duh," Tenten shook her head, scribbling on a worksheet.

"Oh boy, you still have so much to learn about your fellow classmates," Lee said loudly, trying to get her attention.

"Look, I'm not here to talk about Sabaku Gaara, Lee," she contradicted, stealing a sip from his coffee and looked around the diner, "Where the hell is Neji? I thought he was supposed to meet us here every Friday."

The buggy-eyed teenager shrugged, "He usually does, but I think he's still with his science group."

* * *

From a close distance, you might see that the cover of Neji's stature composed of pure, determined calmness and apathy as he watches his team members discuss the topic of the project. But behind his white eyes, a swarm of coldness and irritation was waiting for the edge to throw him off and burst open for all hell to be loose. An unmistakable conscious egg was buried deep into his gut, he feel as though in a short moment, it would hatch and unfurl into a full-grown monster, screaming wildly of all his thoughts and his deepest darkest secrets. For the last two hours they had been talking about nothing but what to do for their hefty experiment. They haven't even decided on the captain of the team, not that the Hyuuga wanted to lead the group of morons. 

"So I was thinking that we can find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop!" Kiba suggested, the amused gleam still flickering in his sharp eyes from the earlier incident. Sakura's embarrassed blush reddened less now that everyone was settled, a steady Haku had passed out numerous bags of chips and soda bottles around the crowd from his portable refrigerator.

Kin shook her magnificent head, "No, too unoriginal."

"That's right!" Haku cried, the rhinestone earring he was wearing was twinkling from the blinding skylights, "Besides it takes four hundred seventy-three-and-half licks. Or was it seventy-two-and-three-quarters?"

"Who cares? We're not doing it!" Kin yelled, annoyed to be around two members of the Naruto Corps.

"How about the blowing up the largest possible chewing gum bubble?" Kiba said, grinning.

"Or how much sweet dango we can stuff into Anko-sensei's mouth?" Haku laughed.

The long dark tresses of the school reporter's hair swung over the arm of the moth-eaten couch, as Kin tossed her head back and forth, "No, no, no, all of those had been done! One of them was recorded in the book of records and it would be foolish if we try it in our project. Besides, the latter was already on the news last month!"

"I didn't think it would be so much more than twelve," Ino whispered to deaf ears.

Kin was scribbling on a piece of paper, "We have to decide what we're doing by next week, so I suggest we better come up with it now. Some of us have to leave in half an hour…"

Kiba snorted, "You can be such a work-alcoholic, I swear I was shocked when I heard you got a bit tipsy for the morning broadcast last week and messed it up. Tsunade-sensei nearly threw you off the station. Dosu was so pissed off." She stiffened when Kiba leaned over with a devious fanged smile, "I actually like it when stuck-up bitchy girls go wild…"

Across from them, Haku elbowed Ino at the side several times, teasing her, "You better watch out, Kin already publicly announced her love for Sasuke-kun!" Ino's face flushed.

"Sasuke-kun isn't interested in Kin," Ino said angrily, tossing back her hair, "Besides she was wasted, obviously she doesn't know what she was saying."

"Aren't you going out with Shikamaru?" Ino said loudly, pushing Haku away before he said anything else.

Kin looked up with sudden displeasure, "Only once, but we're not really—"

"See what I mean? She's not interested in Kiba or Sasuke-kun!" the platinum blonde contort, causing everyone to react differently. Only Shino and Sakura looked unbothered, but the latter was more curious and confused than being sexually frustrated and obviously irritated of nosy people poking in her business.

"Stop probing my love life!" The anchor exclaimed, breaking the pencil on the table where Kiba's hand was a few seconds ago, "We're supposed to be working on the topic! Not gossiping! Not flirting!" She caused the dog-boy to look away, "No more monkey business! We have too much to do!"

After a moment of unbearable pregnant silence, Haku's headlights sparked alit. "Do you guys remember what we did two days ago with the jawbreakers…?"

* * *

They had all agreed to go to the local library after a snack and be dressed in different comfortable outfits (no itchy uniforms). It was unnerving seeing the same old school bum in regular clothes, when she approached him in the study hall. But it was more irritating to see a vivacious redhead snuggling against his arm so cozily in her sexy top and baggy pants. 

"Hello, Sakon, Yoroi…" She received a small wave and nod, "Hey, Shikamaru…Tayuya..." Temari gritted out, wondering what went wrong in her mind to wear a less attractive outfit than the other girl. Tayuya did not look like the old school bully, but rather had done something with her shocking reddish-pink hair—it was less messy and unkempt—she wore a lime-green tube top for the humid weather, brown cargo trousers, leather boots, a new skullcap, and bearing many golden bracelets down her left arm. Her leather jacket was hanging on the back of her chair, as she leaned dangerously against a nonplussed Shikamaru's side.

The blonde had always been quite jealous of the tough rocker, she did not possess as many womanish curves and she did not have the sexy animal magnetism that many cute riff-raff boys had noticed when they see Haruno Tayuya. It was a known thing that Tayuya and Temari had an ongoing rivalry between each other, against boys, looks, and reputation. She stiffly straightened out her plain purple blouse and sat down next to a stoic Yoroi.

"Where is Naruto and Hinata?" Temari voiced out.

Tayuya whistled suggestively, the Sabaku girl did not take notice.

Sakon, always being rather disliked by the punk girl, shrugged uncaringly, "Don't bother with her. She's just sexually frustrated, it's mating season by the way."

The redhead looked angry, flipping him off, while Temari stifled any amusement, continuing on, "Well, we can't start the project without them…"

"Oh, that's a drag," Shikamaru growled, staring at the exits as if he was thinking of running away. If he had any will to move, of course. Tayuya laughed harshly as if attempting a flirting giggle, grabbing hold of him tighter.

Temari smiled uneasily to hide her disgust, "Do you maybe know where they are…?"

"What's worse than having Uzumaki as your team mate…" Sakon said aloud, questioning and not expecting an answer, "Having both him and the Hyuuga chick late and wasting my goddamn time." Without any more thought, he stood up picking up his things, "I'm outta here."

"What are you doing?" Temari exclaimed, stopping him mid-way.

"For your information, Sabaku, I have better things to do," the gray-haired teenager said heatedly.

Tayuya rolled her brown eyes, barking, "Who gives about the fuckhead Sakon? I like his shitty brother better anyway."

Suddenly, everything came to a dead stop. "Take that back!" Sakon demanded.

She stood up completely, sliding her exposed hip against the side of Shikamaru's face so leisurely, "I thought you were leaving."

"I will once you take back what you said!"

"We're in a library!" Temari quietly shouted. This couldn't be happening. Her grades was in jeopardy.

"No. I ain't taking shit back. Cus Ukon is so much better…" Tayuya drew out slowly, "…than trash like you." Sakon's usual deathly pale face turned a dark crimson color, the visible eye that was uncovered by his parted hair had narrowed into slits. Without another word, he just left. Suddenly from outside, loud exclaims fluttered into the study hall before the double doors had completely closed.

"_Hey Sakon! What's your bony behind doing out here—hey! Where you going, man? Study hall's thatahway!"_

"_N-N-Naru-t-to-kun, I t-think we're l-late…"_ The doors closed.

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**To Be Continued**

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Some of you may not see it, but I see romance sparking. Oh no, I got my lips zipped and my fingers tied, I'm still not telling. As some of you can see, I write as I write along and presently, I been trying to scoop back up my ideas. Thank you for reading. 


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